


Human on the Team

by Yemi Hikari (Yemi_Hikari)



Series: Human on the Team [5]
Category: G.I. Joe: Sigma Six (Cartoon), X-Men Evolution
Genre: Angst, Drama, Gen, Obsessive Behavior, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-02-27
Updated: 2008-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:08:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24882820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yemi_Hikari/pseuds/Yemi%20Hikari
Summary: After Cobra takes out Scott Abernathy's school, he finds himself sent to hide in a place Cobra wouldn't think of looking for a human - in a school full of mutants.
Series: Human on the Team [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799668
Kudos: 1
Collections: MinorFandomFest, Platonic Relationships





	1. Why Logan Wen Away

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Misfit Chronicles](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/637105) by Red Witch. 



> Disclaimer - I don't own X-Men Evolution or G.I. Joe Sigma 6.

Logan sat in the X-mansion minding his own business in his own way. The long-lived mutant leaned back in the chair, putting his booted feet up on the coffee table. His teeth ground together, knowing full well he wasn't tasked today with training Jean and Cyclops in the danger room. Instead, Storm ended up taking on the task. He didn't care whether it was his job or not but knew the storm creator had other thoughts on her mind at that point in time.

Evan pinged on the radar, yet the system couldn't pinpoint what kind of power he had. She spoke at length over the phone with her nephew but knew that she would need to make an actual visit to her family home after a few days. The young teen didn't wish to listen to the voice of reason regarding the emergence of his powers, but then again teens weren't known for listening to the voice of reason. Thus what ended up being one Ororo's strong points ended up having no effect what so ever.

Not that Logan looked forward to actually babysitting any kids, liking the fact Scott and Jean actually had some form of maturity that most teens didn't have. Scott in some ways reminded him of an old friend, and yet in comparison, he was a stick in the mud to the point he was almost boring. There was nothing to do today, having even fixed up his bike already.

" _Logan, there is a phone call for you,_ " the Professor called out in his mind. Logan let out a grumble before rubbing the back of his neck, extending and retracting his adamantium claws. He walked over to the phone, picking up the device in his rough hands.

"This is Logan speaking," he growled into the phone.

" _Hello, Logan. Long time no see._ " The voice on the other side rased through the voice box on the phone.

"Who is this?" Logan wasn't in the mood.

" _Down to business. This is first sergeant Conrad S. Hauser._ " The voice spoke in a calm and collected tone.

A groan escaped Logan's lips. "Conrad, how exactly did you get this number and how did you know where I was."

" _I got the number from Shield._ " The man spoke as if it were no big deal, but considering the group, he was a part of…

"I had to ask." Wolverine ground his teeth together. "Let me guess. You need my help with some special mission or another?"

" _You could say that I do need a favor, but not that. In reality, it is Abernathy that needs the favor, Logan._ "

"Yeah, well why can't the General ask me himself?"

" _Unfortunately Abernathy's not in a position to give orders right now. He doesn't even know we're doing this. Hell, he doesn't even know we need to do this._ "

"Then why is it a favor to Abernathy, Duke?!" Logan found himself wishing he could simply hang up, and yet the comradery with this particular group of soldiers stopped him from doing so.

" _Shush! It's best explained in person. I will give you the location._ "

"Why me Conrad? Can you explain why it has to be me of all people?"

" _Shield said that for this job you've got the resources, plus my team..., let's just say we can do your group a favor in return. Not that we weren't going to do it in the first place, but things got moved up a bit._ "

"Fine Conrad. I'll go. But that doesn't mean I agree to help you." Logan listened to what he needed to hear and then clicked the phone down with irritation. He grabbed his keys heading to the Professors office. "Charles, I'll be leaving for a while. I've got business to attend to. I may be gone a few days, maybe a week."

"I'll see you then."

* * *

Logan found himself in a quaint town out in the wilderness surrounded by trees. As much as Wolverine liked the ambiance, he was quite sure that Duke had not chosen this place for making his loner-self happy. It was more for its remote location. He went in and sat at the diner stool. He was glad to see Duke show up.

"All right bub, what is it you want with me?" Wolverine looked up just as Duke sat down.

"I need to fill you in on a few things," Duke spoke in a low tone so that no one could hear. "You wouldn't happen to smell a certain Cobra agent who can hide himself from sight?"

"Hmm, nope. I would have warned you as soon as you stepped in if I had smelled any of those lunatics." Wolverine sipped on his beer. "I take it that Cobra is back in action. So much for you Joes settling down and having families."

"You are one to talk yourself," Duke commented back. "Actually, this has to do with a family member of one of the Joes."

Logan quickly figured it out. "Hawk, if this is a family matter, why doesn't Abernathy know? He's never taken kindly to anyone messing around with any current or former Joe's family members. He's called me in a few times in the past, it's that serious to him."

"For the same reason that Joe is under my command. Cobra – they messed with his DNA Logan. He's still recuperating." Irritation was evident in Duke's tone, even though Logan would probably be one of the few to read it off the man. "To be exact, he's still in a coma, and may not come out of it."

"Crap!" Logan crunched the beer bottle, the glass causing his hand to bleed. "Of all the people! Why did it have to be him? That guy stood up for mutants! Felt we're people just like you non-mutants are." The mutant took out a cigarette pack and lit up, perturbed at this news.

"Classified, at this point," Duke said. "The details of what happened to him that is, but I think you get the drill."

"You mean need to know, and you feel that it is best that I not know?" Logan growled.

"It is bad enough I am telling you what I am Logan." Duke shook his head. "The last thing I need is you going on a suicide mission into Cobra. Of course, that would solve a lot of our problems. But, it isn't advisable. It would take to long."

"Shield said I was the best man for this job, yet you're not explaining why. Particularly since I'm not going on a mission to take out Cobra agents." Logan muttered, puffing on the cigarette. "Please tell me it doesn't involve Scar and…"

"They divorced years ago, yet refuse to admit that they're head over heels for each other. "Duke shook his head. "No. It's Abernathy's kid. My godson to be exact, though Scott doesn't know that."

One of Logan's eyebrows shot up, and he removed the cigarette from his mouth. "Abernathy's got a kid? Who's the mother?"

"Let's just say I lost to Hawk on that one. Not that she stuck around very long."

"Yes, but why do you need my help?"

"The kid needs a place to lie low from Cobra for a stint. This is a kid who managed to hack into Cobra despite only being a Freshman in high school." This statement from Duke made Logan whistle. "Also, let's just say the first time the school was hit, it was still standing. Not this time though."

"So, it isn't just for revenge on Hawk, but because this kid has become a thorn in their side, and you need to hide him." Logan knew where the conversation was going, but he still asked the question. "Let me guess. You want me to take him to the institute? I have to speak to Charles about that, as he needs to make the decision, but he also varies wary of humans."

"Well, I don't blame him. Whether he says yes or no, let him know the Joe's are keeping an eye out for those kids of his in case they catch the eye of Cobra. You know what will happen if they do find out."

"He won't like it. Not one bit."

"I don't blame him, but with what happened to Hawk recently, I don't want to take any chances. That and not all non-mutants are the enemy."

"I know that. I'll be sure to ask, but no guarantees." Logan sighed, turning to leave, only to stop short. "Why'd they split? I understand Hawk and her, but them?"

"I honestly don't know the details. It took them forever to figure it out in the first place. Well, for her at least. He says in his own way that it's his fault, she says it was neither. Chances are, it has something to do with the mission, with being a Joe."

"Thanks. I need to think about what you said. It will take a bit of time, but I'll get back as soon as possible. I know how to contact you. Kick back and enjoy yourself for once, don't worry. Have some fun. Another Scott huh. That should be interesting."

One of Duke's eyebrow's shot up as Logan retreated. "Look who's talking about having fun, mister antisocial himself. Unless of course, you're dragging Snake Eyes into something." Duke shook his head, not realizing he wasn't out of earshot. "Wait? What does he mean by, another Scott?"


	2. Day of Football Disaster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Certain members of the Brotherhood - current and future - find themselves with a rough start of the day.

Todd was bored to death in his class. The biology teacher was talking about evolution. She went on, and on about how man came from monkeys. The young mutant didn't believe for one bit and wished the teacher would stop teaching evolution as fact, at least this kind. For one thing, if humans really came from monkeys, then why did he instead look so much like an amphibian. In addition to this, she didn't say anything about the current evolution of humans, that of mutants powers.

The Freshman thought very quietly to himself, about how it should be amphibians they evolved from. He would also have to complain to Mystique about this. Her speeches about evolution being a process of adaption made more sense than the theories that everybody all came from monkeys, but he also figured he'd agree with her on the fact that various humans came from different things. Todd suddenly chuckled to himself. " _Maybe humans do come from different animals. Me, Toad from amphibians, and Duncan, well, Duncan evolved from a monkey._ "

"Mr. Tolansky, what is it that you find so humorous?" The teacher glared at the boy slapping her yardstick against his hand.

"I was just thinking, some of us didn't come from monkeys, but some of us did, yo!" Todd was smiling, but also quite proud of himself. He continued, forgetting that there were a few athletes in the room. "Us normal ones, we came from amphibians and dolphins, while the jocks, they came from monkeys. Look at how they act in the hallways."

A paper wad hit him in the back of his head, making the class titter at him. The teacher only glared her typical death glare. "There is DNA evidence that we came from monkeys."

"Bull!" Todd raised his hand up into the air, making stuff up as he went. "There is DNA evidence that we all came from frogs and toads. Just because we have close to the same number and structure does not mean we are related. You did say something like that."

"Tolanksy!"

"Yo, lady, when are you going to get the fact what your teaching isn't fact, just some weird concept someone came up with. It is yet to be proven I say!" He continued despite the teacher calling out his name again. He started throwing out a random mash up of her own words. "In fact, there is more proof for adaption evolution within a species than there is proof that there is an evolution from one species to another. So I say, we came from frogs and toads because I like frogs and toads!" Todd stood up on the seat of the desk and took a bow, causing groans to erupt from the class. He stood back up. "Except the jocks. They definitely came from monkeys."

Two more wads of paper were thrown at the back of his head. The teacher was livid. "Do I need to send you to the office Tolansky?"

A girl raised her hand. She wore rather non-descript clothes, and her hair-cut was a bit old fashioned. Todd also couldn't help but notice the cross hanging around her neck. "But he's right. You're teaching this as fact, not theory. It's still not proven and it isn't fair to those who choose not to believe in it. I believe in the bible, he in his frog god."

"This is not the place for theological drivel." The teacher snapped, not pleased at the chaos her class had descended into.

"Yo, the teacher isn't respecting religious freedom!" Todd was now climbing up on top of his desk, taking full delight in ragging the teacher on. "It's her constitutional rights to practice her beliefs! Telling her what she believes is drivel just trashes her! It's our constitutional right to free speech! Don't trash our right to free speech just because we're not adults!

A snapping sound was heard as the teacher's yardstick broke in two, her eyes glaring at Todd with distinct ire. She was about to open her mouth when the bell rang. "I will deal with you later young man."

Todd was happy with himself as he left the classroom. Before he left, the girl said, "Thank you for standing up for me."

For a brief moment, Todd thought he had a chance, a very long one, at getting a girlfriend, only to disappear when he was grabbed from behind by one of the jocks. "You have no right saying that about us!"

"This guy is in for the beating of his life."

"Yo, I did nothing wrong." Todd held up his hands in self-defense.

"You don't want a thumping? I hear you are a thief. You don't want to get thumped, get us a thousand dollars in cash by tomorrow."

"And where exactly am I supposed to get that?" His mouth had yet again gotten him in trouble, but this time not for his slime or long tongue. No, the trouble came from his other mouth issue.

"The football game. And for that stupid question, make it a thousand for each of us, me and my friend." He then shoved Todd away, only for the smaller teen to glare at them. "No, get the whole lot, and us two will split it halves'ies. Got it, dweeb?"

"Yo, stealing is now a hobby? I have scruples you know." Todd muttered to himself. "The football game isn't a bad idea. Just wish I'd thought of it before someone decided to take the dough I'd get from it. Bummer. Lunch money for a few weeks."

* * *

Kitty Pryde felt like crying. Riley and Amy had done it again. This time they had placed a silly string trap in her locker and it had gotten both her regular and gym clothes messy. Not to mention the coach blamed her for the mess. Apparently, she was also the cheerleader coach and it came as no surprise that she would stand up for two of her cheerleaders. Kitty sobbed as she brushed the strings away.

Many times she had tried talking to her parents. They told her there was no way anyone would want to make fun of their baby girl. She was way too pretty, kind and smart. They just forgot the part about athletic clutz that went along with all of that. Kitty carefully swept the silly string up, only to have it caught in the spikes of the broom. She was yet again going to be late for her second-period class and the coach had refused a pass.

"Hey, Kitty Kat." A voice purred behind her. Kitty jumped and fell. She looked up to see Riley.

"What are you still doing here! Aren't you supposed to be in class?" Kitty snapped at her.

"I'm skipping. They don't take attendance this period." Riley blew on her nails. "I thought since no one has gym second period I would use it to do my nails."

"Where's your friend?" Kitty stood up brushing herself off. She decided it might be best to pick up the silly string.

"Amy's flirting with her new boyfriend, the one that happens to share the second period with her, so unless he skips too, she won't skip." Riley gave Kitty a dirty look. "Looks like you're skipping."

"Not that I wanted to." Kitty snapped at her.

"Ohh, Kitty Kat's got a temper. Raur… like, I am so … not … scared of you." Riley blew on her nails.

"Why do you like picking on me, huh?" Kitty felt like crying again.

"I like picking on you because you make yourself an easy target. You're also naïve about the world girl. I'll keep picking on you unless you find a way, oh, to just disappear. Like, ghosting through the wall or becoming invisible. As if that will ever happen." Riley then got up and left. "There will never be a pity party at this school for Kitty Witty."

Kitty burst into tears. She wished her parents would listen.

* * *

Lance was in his English class during the second period. They had handed in their papers the day before, the first for the school year and the teacher was handing them back. Lance received his and looked at the huge red F marked through all of it. Lance gritted his teeth and crumpled his paper. He rose his hand into the air. The teacher however ignored him.

"Why did I get an F on my paper? You didn't mark it except for an F." Lance snapped.

The teacher glared at him. "Do not speak unless you are called upon."

"I will speak when I am good and ready too! Especially when the teacher just so happens to be purposely ignoring me." Lance snapped. A tremor came through the classroom.

"Fine. I will tell you why. You plagiarized again." The teacher said.

"You have no proof!" Lance snapped, causing another tremor to go through the room. His head was beginning to hurt. Why the teachers looked down on him, let alone never once gave him a chance, he didn't know. All adults seemed out to get him, which was downright irritating. As usual, no proof of his supposed crime was offered up, except for the usual excuse.

"My proof is that you're a stupid idiot who is a juvenile delinquent who wants to undermine the system. The tax payers money isn't for teaching immoral people like you how to undermine the system. It is there for the kids who's parents pay to have them get an education." At this, another tremor went off. Lance crumpled up his paper and tossed it at the teacher, hitting him it the head. "Alvers! To the principle's office now!"

Lance raised his hands and got up with a shrug, shoving them into his pants pockets. The system was out to get him anyways. This was the way he was brought up, to expect let down after let down. He marched down the hallway. Someone tried to get his attention, but he ignored them. He went to the office and the secretary told him to wait in the office as the principal was out. Lance thought very carefully about what the teacher had said. He then went to the computer and fiddled with it, a grin appearing on his face.

When he was finished, he sat down. He couldn't figure out what the Principal had been doing that was taking so long. Then he found out as the Principal hauled in his two goons by the ear. Lance put a hand on his head and groaned. "I can't believe you two were… no! Not you too Alvers! Never mind, I am just going to write up a week's worth of detention for all three of you, including weekends. Get out of my office now!"

Lance's two so called buddies hauled him away and up the stairs to the roof to get away from the teacher. "We got caught with the spray paint"

Lance slapped his head. "That was for next week! You guys are so not smart. At least I have mine still."

"Can we borrow it?" The second one said.

"Hell no. I'll do this alone. I can't have you mess it up." Lance snapped at them.

"So, what did you do to get in trouble." One of the boys asked. Lance narrowed his eyes at them.

"I was accused of plagiarism," Lance stated.

"Uh, then why didn't they throw you in jail." The first goon spoke up, only to get elbowed by the other.

"Lance is too smart to get caught. Just not smart enough to write his own paper." This caused Lance to glare at them.

"I did to write that paper!" Lance snapped again. " _And the guy had no proof. No real proof._ "

"Whatever you say, boss." Both of the other boys said at the same time.

Lance groaned, then a small smile spread on his face. "At least I go even with them."

"What did you do this time." Both boys looked at Lance, not sure of what was going on.

"I made it so every single staff member's paycheck doesn't come out and stays in the school funds. They'll end up with paychecks, every single one of them, with big fat zeros." Lance let the ground tremble beneath them. It was a simple hack, as the computer didn't have a good security system.

"Lance, are you daft? Why didn't you get the exam answers for the six weeks mid exam?" This caused Lance to look at the two in shock.

"Or send the money to your account."

"And how did you do it? Aren't you too stupid to do something like that?"

"Hey, we can make money off the exams!"

"Hey, I remembered, he doesn't have a bank account."

"Should have sent the money to ours."

"That's stealing guys," Lance responded to the two.

"And we haven't stolen before. The system here gets us all down, you the worst. Let's get back at it by getting those exam questions."

"Fine. I really don't care anymore. I've already got a stupid freakin' record." The two suddenly disappeared.

"We're going to go and start finding potential customers!"

"Yeah!" Both took off before he could tell them no.

Lance could only groan and hold his head as his head hurt badly. He heard the door snap open and he snapped his head up. It was a girl that was standing there. "What is it you want?"

She wasn't fazed by him snapping at her. "I want in."

"I know you. You are that girl who came on to me the first day of school. What is your name?" He smirked.

"My name is Riley. Riley Sawyers. Are you going to let me in on this or not?" The girl smiled at him, touching his arm. This only caused him to yank away.

"Nope. You're not in on it." Lance turned away from her.

"Then I will tell!" She snapped at him, brushing her brown hair away.

"Really?" Lance took a look at her. "You tell and I will have my friends plaster the boy's bathrooms with things that will so ruin your reputation you won't be able to set foot in the school again."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Riley snapped at him.

"You made the mistake of giving me your real name girly." Lance glared at her. "They won't know who wrote those things."

Riley looked at him in shock. She then glared at him. "Fine, have your way. The real reason I came up here is I'm still looking for somebody to skip with."

"No deal. Scram. I want to be left alone." Lance didn't even bother looking at her. "To me, your just another stuck up prissy who thinks she knows me and wants to use me. I already told you, not going to happen. No way, no how."

Riley glared at him and left. "I'll find someway to make you mine, stupid!"


	3. Flights of Fancy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Certain lives head towards changes while another life goes on as normal, much to the irritation of another person.

Kurt Wagner pulled on the cowl that covered his face. He was sitting in, of all places, an airplane. He held one cloth covered hand to his face and pondered the situation he now found himself in. He still couldn't believe that his adoptive parents had decided to send him away like that, but the monks in their village even agreed this was a good idea. Yes, him leaving was so that he could live a normal life, but the teen wasn't sure if he really could trust this Professor Xavier, let alone whether the man could fulfill his promise.

The teen glanced down at his three fingers on his left hand, carefully feeling the bible one of the monks had given to him as a going away present. The monk said something about hoping Kurt would remember that God was looking out for him, but the teen found himself doubting. It wasn't a matter of not believing in God, but instead struggled with the idea that someone as benevolent as the monks said would allow a child like himself to be blue, but never make friends.

He carefully watched as only a few people got on the flight. Of course, the time of night was one of those times people normally didn't want to fly but made it so that the teen was less likely to attract attention. For trying to live a normal life, this was certainly far from a normal experience, yet the trip to New York city would hopefully prove uneventful.

Kurt looked out the window as the flight took off. He hadn't a clue how the Professor had secured a student visa for him so fast either. The quickness of this securing of the visa had been to his adoptive parents' happiness. This only made Kurt more skeptical about whether this whole institute was real of not. He wouldn't know until he actually arrived in the states and met the professor. Rain began to pour down and tap the window. Kurt sighed and decided to get some sleep.

* * *

Scott Abernathy sat on a plane with Scarlett. They were flying out to Illinois for what his companion deemed a nuisance. Scarlett hadn't said much about what the mission was about though, nor where he was going to go after the fact. Scott wasn't really sure about anything anymore. He also wasn't happy that Spud had to be packed into luggage. There was no way that his friend would like that, so he had put the robotic dog into sleep mode, much in the same way one would do for a real pet.

"Scarlett, this flight is going to Rockford, Illinois. Is that where I am going to be staying?" The boy looked carefully at Scarlett, trying to read her response.

"No. We were asked to look at something first." Scarlett said, shrugging her shoulders. "Apparently someone hacked into the computer system at one of the schools. The principal thought it was terrorists."

"Not Cobra I take it," Scott whispered to Scarlett so that no one around them could hear.

"Nope." There an amused look on Scarlett's face.

Scott screwed his face in confusion. "So, what exactly is so funny about this?"

"It probably isn't a terrorist at all," Scarlett said, shrugging her shoulders and putting her hands behind her head.

"Then why are we even going. Joe specializes in terrorists." Scott was irritated.

"Because someone did hack the school accounts, Scott. And we, the two of us, until we can get situated, need to lay low of the 'terrorist' hackings. Not to mention we need to do something to keep us busy until Duke finds that place."

* * *

Mystique was miffed with Todd. She had been telling the boy to take out the trash since he had gotten there. The problem was, he had yet to do so and the place was beginning to smell like the boy. Flies were also everywhere. She sat in the kitchen, covering her face. It was then the Toad jumped, or more of hopped, into the kitchen. She shook her head.

"What did I tell you about taking out the trash?" She asked him. He looked at her with a stunned look on her face.

"I was getting some cash," Todd stated. Her eyes narrowed at him.

"I thought I specifically told you no stealing. I won't be able to bust you out every time you mess up like this." She snapped. "Back on topic. The trash!"

"Ah, boss lady!" Todd waggled a finger at her. "You obviously don't get what is so good about leaving trash!"

"That it leaves such a perfume that it overpowers everything else." Mystique said sarcastically.

However, Todd thought she was being serious and continued. "Not just the perfume boss lady! The flies are a big deal of it too! I mean, look at all those flies!"

"I am looking at all the flies Toad. Explain to me why that is a good thing?"

"Ode to the fly, the fly has beautiful eyes! Thousands of them to be exact, looking like a jewel, a bedazzling jewel. The wings are like delicate gossamer that might be torn in the smallest breeze, yet they are able to fly for long periods of time. The body is made of just the right shapes, spherical, nice, round and plump. The tongue stretches out in a curl like a Siamese cat's tail."

Mystique groaned. "Why Toad, are you telling me everything that makes a fly look good to you?"

"Ahh, I guess you already knew all that stuff, huh boss lady?" Todd jumped into one of the chairs. "But you know the best part. The best part is how the fly tastes, it is a major delicacy. Have you tried it?"

"No, I have not! Are you telling me that the reason you left the trash is because of you wanting to eat flies?" Mystique snapped at him.

"Duh, yeah!" Todd looked at her like she was crazy. She gave him the same look back.

"Normal people don't eat flies Toad. They do not like this kind of smell. I want it out of the house now!" Mystique yelled at him.

"Your loss lady!" Todd yelled, obviously miffed at having to get rid of the delightful smell and food source. "I was going to share them with you too!"

He grabbed the bags and began to haul them out. His tongue shot out and grabbed one of the flies. He went out the back door, then stuck his head back in. "By the way, my liking to eat bugs, it is part of my mutation. Get used to it."

"And you get used to bugs not being allowed in the house!" Mystique snapped. Todd slammed the door. "Uughh. Well, at least I know that I will never have to call an exterminator… unless the bugs are poisonous. Maybe I'll just let him eat them and then watch him squirm in pain. Yes, I think I'll do that. I won't bother to look up whether or not they are poisonous or not. I'll wait to find out.


	4. Garfield's Bad Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kitty Pryde hates Monday's.

Kitty grabbed her favorite cartoon shirt from her dresser drawers. Usually, it was against the school rules to wear t-shirts with cartoon characters on the, but today was school spirit day. The themes chosen by the student council was cartoon characters which meant each student could wear a t-shirt with their favorite cartoon characters on them. Typically, Kitty didn't like school spirt days as she was becoming to dislike school more and more to Riley.

However, she couldn't resist wearing a certain shirt that day. She held it up that she could see the cartoon character she liked so much. That and the catch phrase that went with the shirt fit her mood quite well. "Good morning Garfield. Sadly, today is Monday. I hate this day as well because it's the first day of the school week. That means I've got to deal with her for five whole days."

She pulled the Garfield shirt over her head and regular clothes, not caring that she was wearing double layers. She turned around in front of the mirror hanging on the door to her room, making sure everything was nice and neat. She then held out her arms. "Well, here's hoping lasagna is on the lunch menu today. I'm sure you'll like that. Actually, you'd like anything on the menu."

She folded her arms across her chest, thinking carefully, but then set her mind to be as positive as possible. A smile spread across her face before she hurried down the stairs. Her father was drinking his morning coffee while her mother was vacuuming the living room. "I'm off."

Her mother smiled as Kitty went through the door. "Have a nice day.

As such, she was in a very good mood once she arrived at school. However, her bubble was burst as soon as she walked through the doors of the school. Riley and Amy were waiting for her, to have their usual daily dose of picking on her. Riley was wearing a Betty Boop shirt and Amy wore Jessica Rabbit. "Roar. Look at Pitty Kitty. She's a fat cat." Riley made a claw like motion before pointing at Garfield. "Seems like you've become somewhat chubby, no… fat!"

"Nah! She's wearing Garfield so that it looks like she might actually have a chest," the other girl laughed, with Riley quickly the following suit despite the poorly made joke.

"Yeah, well, you're wearing what you're wearing because they can wear short skirts and you can't at school." Kitty retorted, causing both girls to glare at her, only to turn around and bash her for her comeback.

"Oh, Kitty Pitty's trying to bite." Riley made her hands into claws again and let out a hiss.

"Heh, she makes a swing at the bat and strikes out." The other girl swung an invisible bat, a rather broad grin on her face.

Kitty hung her head and ran past them, trying hard not to cry as they laughed at her.

* * *

Lance walked past the offices to try and figure out how to get in to the test answers, stopping to peer around the corner. The last thing he needed was to draw attention to himself. He wasn't really into the whole spirit day thing, even with the cartoon shirts, but then again, his childhood hadn't allowed for such frivolities. It was fun though to inwardly laugh at students when their shirts matched who they were, or who they thought they were.

For example, the office lady was wearing a shirt with the Power Puff girls on it. This reminded Lance of the fact she liked to pretend she was still young. The lady obviously had grey hair, and Lance knew she had bene working there for over thirty years because there was a thirty-year plaque on the wall for which he hadn't bothered to check the date on. Compliments regarding how young she looked – or didn't – went over well with her, yet he'd never stooped to that level like some of the other students had.

The principle, on the other hand, was wearing a shirt with a green Martian guy on it. No, it wasn't Marvin the Martian or Martian Manhunter, but the green alien from area fifty-one that was on the shirt. Lance had to mentally shake his head, as that wasn't the kind of character that was meant to be worn on school spirit day, but the principle was a conspiracy nut. It was possibly a good thing that the school had no visitors in today, at least so far.

Except, upon thinking that Lance noticed a teenage boy and a red-haired woman walking into the office. Lance gritted his teeth, the ground shaking slightly. This caused the woman to look towards him, almost of if she knew it was him making the ground shake. Lance looked at the ground, not wanting to look her in the face, or liking the length of time she stared at him. He didn't look up until he knew that the woman was no longer looking at him, but was busy with the office lady.

Lance didn't know why, but he'd always had a thing against females with red hair. It wasn't because of one of his former foster mothers; actually, he had looked into it and found that none of them had red hair. Well, one did have red hair, but he had reacted so negatively to her as soon as he got into the house that he was taken out the next day. Not only was the woman in tears, something told him that would have been a good house as well.

"Hi. We were called in to look at the hacked computer system." The red head said, showing her credentials. Lance felt the color drain from her face when he heard her say this. The fact she was showing a badge of some kind meant they were already onto the fact he had messed with the paychecks so that the teachers wouldn't get paid. Problem was, there was no way he could convince those two knuckleheads to back off the test answers.

"Isn't he a bit young?" The office lady, despite wishing she was younger, looked down on younger people who didn't compliment her, yet also had a habit of ogling some of the male teens _while_ still looking down on them. Lance shook his head, wondering himself why they would send a kid in, but noticed the goggles the woman wore.

" _What person in their write mind wears goggles?_ "

This young man may look young, but he is our techy. He's actually a computer genius, truth be told." The woman smiled, making Lance's chest tighten. A rather nasty feeling which felt like jealousy hit low in the gut, yet he also felt anger directed at that woman in particular.

"Ah, I see." Suddenly, the office lady was also admiring the red-haired boy, but Lance found himself unable to not throw a glare in the boy's direction.

" _Probably some know-it-all, stuck up rich kid. Everyone likely always notices he was smart, but he likely enjoys the attention._ " Yeah, there was plenty of reason to be jealous, what with having just been accused recently of plagiarizing a paper and receiving a failing grade. He'd spent quite a few nights and a few headaches attempting to finish said essay to the best of his ability.

"Good! I'll go and get the principle. The woman soon returned with the principle of the school.

Lance saw the red-haired lady and the other teen glance at the man's shirt, before looking at each other with frowns on their faces, having picked up on the conspiracy vibes. "Thank god you are here. I am quite sure that a terrorist has hacked our computer system and is hacking the school funds to help fund their terrorist actions!"

Some of the colors returned to Lance's face, though he was sure neither of the strangers believed what the man said. He stifled a laugh, only for a sound that was a mix between a cough and a laugh came out. The boy that was with the lady apparently heard and looked up at him. Lance flinched, shrinking back behind the wall so he continued to go unnoticed. As the other teen looked away, Lance decided to leave before he was caught.

He turned and began to walk away, so far unnoticed by the school staff. A flash of light caught him off guard, making him hold a hand up to his eyes. The flash of light made his head hurt, and the earth quaked lightly in response. When he uncovered him, he saw that girl Riley there, holding a camera with a grin on her face. She snapped a picture. "You're rather stupid, aren't you?" Lance attempted to grab the camera, only for the girl to dodge before snapping another one, a smile on her face. Lance felt his eye twitch, his teeth grind together. "Give me that thing!"

Riley just stuck out her tongue and began to run. "Come back here, you stupid girl! Give me that camera!"

The brown-haired teen started after her, and as such he didn't hear the red-haired lady tell the principle ' _excuse me_ '. The obnoxious preppy girl turned corners and took a few more pictures. Lance ground his teeth, frustrated that he couldn't catch up to her, but also found himself sliding on the floor, as the souls of his shoes were to worn out, thus he couldn't get traction. That's what happened when everything was handed down from other kids in the foster system who were complete strangers.

She skidded to a stop outside of the girl's locker room, pushing the door open just as he attempted to stop. Instead, he landed on his butt and slid through the door, much to his irritation. He quickly covered his eyes as he crashed into the ground, cursing his luck as a few of the girls screamed. He heard another flash of light and knew Riley had taken another picture.

"Ick! He's going to be in so much trouble!" One girl, not Riley said.

"I hate Mondays." Another girl groaned from somewhere sounding muffled, meaning that she was likely hiding behind the lockers because of the unwanted intrusion. Suddenly, Lance felt himself being grabbed and drug out of the locker room by his arm, forcing his arms open so he was forced to see a little more than he honestly wanted. When he was out in the hall, he found that the person holding his ear and twisting it was none other than the red-haired lady. A rumble of frustration came from below.

"You need to learn to control yourself, young man." The red head glared at him furiously.

Lance winced, stopping the movement of the ground. He muttered something, hoping like those around him thought that what she said had to do with the locker incident. "I didn't…

Much to his chagrin, the lady leaned in so she could whisper into his ear so he could hear. "I'm not talking about you accidently ending up in the locker room. I'm talking about your powers. You have a very dangerous gift. Please learn to use it more wisely."

"Wait…" Lance startled, unsure what to think about the woman knowing.

Another flash and another picture was taken by Riley before she took off into the locker room so he couldn't go after her. The red-haired lady shook her head, her next words making his face turn red. "Well, at least she didn't take a picture of you in the shower."

* * *

Having a guy in the locker room was mortifying. As soon as he came through the door, she quickly hid so she didn't catch a good look at his face. She was now standing on the bench between the lockers as if he were a mouse that would soon be coming around the corner. " _Yet if he was a mouse Kitty, you'd be commenting on how cut he was. No way a guy could be that cute, but he's got a lot of nerve coming in here like that._ "

Riley came around the corner with a huge grin on her face, her grin growing upon seeing Kitty. She held up her disposable camera, only to frown. "I guess this is your lucky day Kitty. I used up all my pictures on that guy. I'd love to have blackmail material, but having a roll of film full of pictures of a hot guy is far better."

Amy snapped her gum, pulling it out of her mouth with her finger. She glared at Kitty before Riley elbowed her in the ribs. Both girls burst out laughing as Kitty pulled on her regular clothing, wanting to get out of there. The class wasn't even over, but both girls took to much delight in the fact she was horribly squeamish. With a word of ' _do it_ ' from Riley, Amy reached over and stuck her gum into Kitty's hair.

Kitty's eyes suddenly went wide as she finished straightening out her Garfield shirt. She glanced at the mirror that was at the end of the column and saw the pink dot of gum stuck in her hair. She let out a wail, and ran from the locker rooms, attempting to not cry. Suddenly, she felt something being put on her head. She glanced up at the Spanish teacher from under the sombrero.

"Just bring it back, or have it sent back when you get to the nurse's office." The woman whispered, her tan skin glowing from the use of lotion. Kitty could only nod as tears fought to not roll down her cheeks. Ms. Garcia wasn't her teacher, yet was always nice to all of the students, but also very pretty, unlike the plain Kitty Pride. Sometimes her words helped to comfort, but other times it made her feel even worse.

Kitty nodded, biting back tears, before hurrying towards the nurse's office. She crashed into someone who grumbled, only to hear laughter from the person. She burst into tears. She was glad whoever bumped into her was taller.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to make you cry." The voice was male. "I didn't realize you were having a bad day. I wasn't laughing at you, but what your shirt said. ' _I hate Mondays'_. It kind of matched the way my day's gone so far. Yours too I guess?"

Kitty felt her face beginning to blush up, confused as to why a guy would stop and talk to plain old her, but he sounded much like she'd imagine a knight in shining armor to sound. She worried her lip, before hurrying off again. Today was definitely a bad day, with one embarrassment after another. Maybe her parents would finally listen and believe that their sweet little girl was being bullied. Kitty stopped in front of the nurse's doorway.

" _No. Neither one of them would want to believe someone would want to pick on me. I'm too nice for that._ " Letting out a sigh, she debated whether to go into the nurse's office or not, but then decided she wanted the gum out, yet also needed to return Ms. Garcia's hat.

* * *

Lance found his way to the roof top where the two guys were smoking. His day kept getting worse and worse, what with someone coming in to investigate, Riley, taking pictures and him ending up in the locker room he did. However, he'd also made a girl cry, and now his two buddies were smoking those disgusting sticks which gave him a headache. "If you two don't stop, I'll bring this whole school down on you."

"Ah, come on Lance. You wouldn't do that." One of his so called friends laughed, puffing smoke into Lance's face. His fingers waved the offensive smell away, his nostrils flaring as a headache started to trigger. Mentally, he told himself to control the earthquakes despite the fact his head hurt.

"Come on. Try a cig." The other said, shoving a half empty pack towards Lance.

"I'm not going to get cancer just because you guys want to. Plus, if the teacher's find signs of smoking up here, we are so dead! You know they'll just patrol the roof even more!" Lance glared at them, before heading to the edge of the roof in order to try and get some fresh air. Again, he thought about how awful his day had gone, only to remember Ms. "I Hate Mondays" and her sombrero, but how the woman had admitted him ending up in the locker room was an accident. One he did not want to repeat. Speaking of the red-haired woman though, "I don't think we should continue trying to get the essay answers. They know I hacked the computer system!"

"Come on Lance. It isn't as if they called the FBI on you." His other friend laughed. Lance didn't bother to call the idiot. They could do more than simply call the FBI on him, and he knew that. In fact, they'd already called in help regarding the matter.

"There is no way we aren't backing out of this." The first of the two friends piped up. "You said that foster care family of yours has a couple of special needs kids, but that they could use more money." Lance gritted his teeth at this, knowing where they were going, but controlled himself so the ground didn't rumble. The foster care family had wanted him because they needed an extra hand with those two kids, but the system also thought helping them would do Lance some good. They were still not sure that having Lance was a good idea.

"You could just say you got another weekend job again." The other commented. "Why you keep doing part time work, I don't know."

"Fine. You've made your point." Lance wished those two wouldn't use his soft spot for little kids on him to manipulate him into doing what they wanted.

* * *

Scarlett sat on the desk watching Scott do his work with the computer. The kid was a genius, she had to admit. She highly doubted this was a terrorist group, but went along expecting an uneventful job to bide the time until Scott got to where ever they were going to place him. It turned out not to be as uneventful as she thought. She didn't know what she would do, as the seeing that kid bothered her.

It didn't help that at one time when she was married, she'd wanted a household of boys to chase around and rough house with. She didn't care whether they had to adopt to have the full household, but things happened, ruining what should have been a good thing. Scarlett let out a sigh, shaking her head and pushing the thoughts of the past into the back of her mind. When she glanced up, she saw Scott shake his head. "Something the matter Scott?"

"What terrorist person sends the money right back to where it came from? I mean, the school paychecks all went back into the school funds. Only the janitors and lunch ladies got their paychecks." Scott continued to tap away at the keys on the computer.

"Really? I doubt it is one of them though."

"Correct. I think one of the students may have a grudge against the teachers. They're going to be someone who either is or comes across as a trouble maker. Like that kid that was here earlier. Kids like that, people tend to look down on, but also underestimate. He may be smarter than they realize, maybe not."

"I noticed the kid."

The principle came in. "So, have you found out who the terrorist is?"

"Probably no terrorist, but a student, like that kid that was hanging out near the offices when we came in?"

"Him? There is no way that pink kid is smart enough to hack a computer," the principle snapped. "It was most definitely terrorists."

Scarlett felt her eyebrows go up as Scott stared at the man. "You saw him?"

"Of course I saw _him_. He's just one of those good for nothing kids who will never amount to something."

"You sir," Scarlet spoke up, "are why kids like him never amount to something, as they never get to prove themselves. People like you never believe in them, and instead, believe the worst of them."

The man was of course angry.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whether Scortt - Scott Abernathy - that is - should join the team is debated. Riley is obsessed with Lance. Scott and Scarlett look into the hacking at Lance's school while they wait.

Logan had arrived home before he had any real time to think about what happened to Hawk. He could consider Hawk to be a friend just like he could consider Captain America his friend. They were the kind of people that could be your friends, but it had to be kept secret that you were friends with them, let alone knew them.

Logan let Xavier know that he needed to speak with him about something important. Xavier wheeled around behind the desk and Logan to a seat in front of him, crossing one of his legs. "What is it that you needed to talk to me about Logan?"

"I had a friend contact me. They need help with something." Logan stated, knowing that Xavier would catch on to some things easily.

"It is someone from the government, if I am not mistaken. You know how I feel about government involvement Logan." Xavier said shaking his head.

"Hear me out Chuck, they want to hide a kid," This statement caused Xavier to lean forward.

"A mutant…" Xavier asked, and was to be surprised at Logan's answer.

"A non-mutant," Logan stated. Xavier's eyes went wide.

"You know how I feel about non-mutants finding out about us just yet." Xavier stated. "My answer…"

"Here me out Chuck… the kid already knows about mutants… the kids dad had his DNA messed with… and he didn't have the right DNA. Anyways, this kid knows all about mutants and those who would want to miss use them. His father fought hard to keep that from happening, along with others."

"Why does his father want him here?" Xavier asked.

"His father isn't in the best of condition after what this group did to him." Logan stated. Xavier bent his head, knowing what Logan meant. "Let's just say, that those that they were fighting just happened to get hacked by the kid and now they are against him."

"Logan, would this bring any danger to the students, this child being here. I mean, would this group find us because of him." Xavier asked.

"Chuck, knowing what I know about this group… they pose a threat whether the kid is with us or not. It solves this group's problem of keeping an eye on us and the kid." Logan stated. If he was a man of small nerve, he would have winced at the look Xavier gave him.

"Logan, I don't like the idea of the government interfering," Xavier said shaking his head. He was about to give his answer when Logan continued.

"They don't want to stop us Xavier. Fact is, they want to keep this terrorist group away from the kids. The antiterrorist group used to be huge, but it was thought to have been disbanded. Only a few are apparently left. I don't know which ones. This isn't like your other government agency. They are all for keeping people's rights in tact."

"I don't think it is fare to make it only my decision though… we need to speak to the other students about this." Xavier watched as Logan nodded his head in agreement.

* * *

Riley lay on the bed in her room, clipping out pictures. She was glad she some how managed to sneak a few pictures of that boy. She realized that while he knew her name, she still didn't know his. She had not happened on the conversation about stealing the exam answers except at the beginning. She glued the pictures down in her notebook and drew hearts around them.

The other pages had montages of all her other so called achievements with boys. This one was going to take longer, which meant more pictures. She sipped on the soda that was on the nightstand, pondering everything. This boy was different from the other boys in more ways then one. He would thus be harder to catch.

She glanced at the few pictures she had taken. There was nothing she could offer him that he wanted; the idea of certain things defiantly offended him. And she wasn't good enough in school to write his papers for him, or do his school work for him. But on the other hand, Kitty Pitty was. But for Riley to get her to do the school work, she would need to bring down her ego even more.

She pursed her lips, frowning. She had always abused the other girl because she had more then she realized. She could charm anyone into doing what they wanted to do, just by using the right words with them. Riley had to always used threats and make people feel like they were lower then everyone else. Of course, with her dad, any words would work.

Riley glanced at her pictures. She was hoping that she wouldn't have to resort to breaking her new toy before she could even play with it. She tapped her finger against the paper. If only she had gotten a black mail picture of that girl. Suddenly the door creaked open.

"Dinner's ready sweetie," This caused Riley to look up at her mother with her blond hair and blue eyes. " _If I had that coloring, I wouldn't have to worry about doing things to get guys' attention. Or had that red hair like that lady._ "

Riley had been very impressed with that woman who had stormed into the locker room and yanked the boy out by his ear. That was the kind of control she wanted over him. No, not just him, but all guys. She closed her notebook to go and eat.

* * *

Everyone was gathered for a formal meeting in the sitting room of the mansion. Everyone had listened to the story from Logan. No impute was given by Xavier as he wished for it to be unbiased by his wants. One by one they gave their opinions.

"I'm new, so I don't think vhat I say matters much, but… if he knows about mutants and has no problems with them, maybe… maybe I could show my real self to him, _no_?" Kurt spoke up. The blue boy had caught Logan's attention when he had first met him and he ruffled his hair. The kid was a very good kid, no one could argue against that and deserved a chance. If the kid was anything like his father, he would get it.

"While you are new Kurt, your opinion does matter. You also have a valid point. We are preparing here to have the students interact normally with non-mutants. This might help matters." Ororo spoke up. "Because we really need to begin to trust a few, expesully those who already know our secrets."

"Professor, Logan said that he has knowledge with computers. Perhaps he would be able to help with Cyrebro?" Jean spoke up. She was smart, but she was not into computers and mechanical things. That was a job for boys. "It isn't as if his talents wouldn't be useless to us, even if he is a non-mutant."

"Everyone is useful Jean, whether they are mutant or not." Xavier spoke up.

"Vhen vhy did that one kid not join?" Kurt spoke up in confusion. He was thinking of the fact that Toad had been frightened off.

"I don't want to push it with him. I also knew that something else was afoot in the whole matter, but I really can't be sure what. Also to note, Todd has had a bad life, no parental figure that I know of, I do not wish to push authority on them. We are not going to force anyone to join against their free will."

"Well, I think that having a non-mutant would be bad. I mean, you said we could trust him. Let's say we have to trust people enough that we feel we can share our secrets. Can we then tell them? Or will we have to hide from them? I think we should trust them." Cyclops spoke up. He was thinking particularly about his best friend.

"Then it is decided. The boy can come." Xavier said, nodding his head. If the students felt that they could trust the boy, then that was what mattered to him.

Cyclops then spoke up. "What is his name Logan?"

Logan smiled and left to make the call. "I think that is best left when he gets here."

Jean looked at the ceiling and shook her head. "Oh, let me guess, this is one of Logan's idea of a joke, one that we won't get or think is funny."

"Vhat is that supposed to mean? He seems vike a nice guy?" Kurt spoke up in confusion. Logan had smiled at him and treated him like a normal person. Kurt hoped the non-mutant would do the same.

"Well…" Cyclops said, shaking his head. "See, Logan is a loner. Not that he's a bad guy, he just isn't sociable."

* * *

Scarlett was sitting in the hotel room she was sharing with Scott Abernathy. There was two bedrooms and a small living room. She was watching the news when Scott came out of his bedroom. He had finished showering and dressing and had a towel to dry his hair. He sat down on the other side of the couch.

"Well, the good news is, they found you a place to stay." Scarlett said, leaning against the couch arm.

"I take it there is bad news?" Scott began to rub his hair dry.

"Well…, alright, from what I've been told about this place, there are currently three high schoolers and three adults." Scarlet stated.

"Doesn't sound bad… I mean, I'll be around kids that are my age and not just adults, not meant to offend any one from Joe." Scott mumbled the last part because he didn't want to get on Scarlett's bad side.

"Well, see, the guy who Duke contacted is one Logan, aka… Wolverine." Scarlett stated.

"What is it about this Logan guy Scarlett?" Spud jumped up between the two of them and curled up.

"Well, believe me when this is no reflection on the rest of them; as of yet I have no information on them. It's more of, that Wolverine guy… let's just say he could make an entire battalion of Cobra soldiers run for their lives."

"He is seriously that bad ass?" Scott whistled, for anyone who could do that to Cobra impressed him.

"Bad ass isn't the word for it, unless you include drill sergeant war buff with it." Scarlett added in.

"I take it, like you guys; this guy has seen his share of arms and war." Scott stated.

"Kid, the guy is a living weapon. He's trained in ninjutsu and in World War… well, he was used as a weapon because of his abilities."

"How can you know all this…?" Scott looked at her in confusion.

"Snake-Eyes told me… Wolverine is sort of part of his ninja clan."

"Snake-Eyes told… hey, Jinx and Kamakara told me that Snake-Eyes lost his ability to speak."

"Snake-Eyes uses sign language… plus… I remember him from before he lost his ability to talk and before he began to constantly cover his face with a mask."

"So… hold it, you also said that this Wolverine guy is part of their ninja clan. Is this stuff you're supposed to be telling me?"

"I don't see that there is a problem, considering you know those three ninjas and somewhat about Storm Shadow. So long as you don't go around telling other people; Wolverine can be particular about certain things. So no questions either."

"What did you mean by sort of though?"

"See, all the members of the clan get a tattoo… well, they gave it to Wolverine and it didn't stay."

Scott narrowed his eyes. "He got it removed by laser. So what?"

"No, when I say, didn't stay, I mean didn't stay. It vanished as soon as they finished tattooing him." Scarlett had a small smirk on her face and waved her hand. "And the reason this happened is the same reason they were able to graph Adamantium to his skeleton and give him Adamantium claws."

"Cobra do that to him Scarlett… the healing ability and the Adamantium?"

"No and no. The guy is a mutant. In fact, all six people you are staying with are mutants. Ones that are born that way naturally and we hope haven't had loonies like cobra mess with their DNA."

"So, they'll have special abilities to do things like… oh… move things with their minds?"

"Yeah, I guess." Scarlett put her hands behind her head.

"Sounds cool then," Scott stated.

"Not cool. Dangerous… at least with Wolverine. The guys a major loner… much like Snake-Eyes… that may be why they happen to be such good friends. For the most part, Snake-Eyes doesn't drink any more, but that Wolverine, he's able to get him to drink hard and play Poker… at least they don't wager money when they do, though neither beats the other."

"Snake-Eyes… he doesn't seem the type too…"

"Look, don't repeat that. That was something I should not have mentioned about him. Jynx, myself, Duke and your father… out of those who are left are the only ones who know that… and few of the old group knew. It just happened we knew him before his accident and knew his past."

"So, I guess you can acquaint the dame danger to both Wolverine and Snake-Eyes?" Scott asked, tapping Spud's head, which was the equivalent of scratching a normal dog's head. Spud let out a sigh of pleasure.

"Yes, but you only need to be afraid of them if they're your enemy or your not considered family by them." Scarlett then decided to leave the discussion at that. "It's late; you had better get to bed."


	6. All in a Bayville Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mystique finds herself annoyed by the addition of a non-mutant to the team, but Toad's actions further exasperate her.

Darkholme was in her office drinking coffee and very much enjoying herself and the peace and quite. She had not seen any of the juvenile delinquents in the office at all that day. That included Todd Tolansky, which meant he had set a new record of not getting in trouble. She had to hand it to the kid though, most of the time he didn't mean to get in trouble. She glanced up from her coffee when she heard a yell come from her secretary.

"Hey, you can't go in there!" Darkholme ended up spitting out her coffee when she saw who it was who had stormed her office like a maniac. Usually she expected this behavior coming from some disgruntled parent who was angry that their child didn't make the highest marks. This was an X-Men storming her office; however, considering who it was, it was the one who was likely to do it.

"What do you want!" Darkholme snapped at the man. A snarl curled on his lips and he flung a folder onto her desk. She glanced at it and shook her head. "What, the X-Men resulting to blackmailing me … or is it that your turning turncoat on them?"

"Don't be stupid, the X-Men will never stoop to your level nor will I ever turn to your side," He snarled at her, snapping as he did. He glared at the secretary who was peaking through the door and she quickly closed the door.

"Then what is this!" She picked up the folder and slammed it down onto the table, causing a snapping noise to come forth. "I believe there is a reasonable awnser to this!"

"There is… meet someone who is going to be the newest student at Bayville." Logan stated, snarling at her again.

"What, you," Darkholme said sarcastically. She wasn't stupid though, Logan would be more likely to pass as a new gym coach then an actual student. She grinned inwardly at the thought of him running the kids to the ground, but she wasn't about to give him the idea that she actually had a good thought about one of the X-Men.

Darkholme opened the folder and looked at the page. "Scott Abernathy… his residence when he moves in will be the mansion. Wonderful, I take it that Xavier is wanting to rub it in that they are getting a new mutant into the institute after my failed attempt of sending in a spy."

"Ahh, so you admit it, sending the kid in. We are getting a new student at the institute. The thing is, if he was a mutant, Xavier would be the one pushing this in front of your face, not me. The kid is a regular human." Wolverine quipped. He watched, much to his delight as Darkholme squirmed in her seat.

"You… supporting non-mutants is something I don't understand." Darkholme quipped.

She didn't expect the answer that he gave back. "I have met enough people who wished to abuse my powers, but I've also met even more people who wish to protect my rights as a human. You are so focused on mutants and their supposed sufferings, that you don't see the whole picture, nor does your boss. In fact, Xavier doesn't see the whole picture, but this is a start at least."

Darkholme glared at him. "A horrible start you moron! How is it that you think you can trust this kid with our secret when he isn't one of us!? Your idea of mutants and… them, is way too radical!"

"Because I trusted his father with our secret for a very long time, so I have faith that the son will be like the father." Wolverine smirked at her discomfort.

"How did Xavier pull of this transfer this time?" Darkholme asked, grumbling as she did, hoping to get some information.

She should have known better though, Wolverine was no fool. "Not that I would give away Xavier's key points, but to let you know… he wasn't the one who pulled off the transfer this time. I really don't know who did."

This caused Darkholme's jaw to drop in shock. Wolverine stuck his hands in his jean pockets, which made he wonder how he planed on leaving. She was answered when the door opened a crack and a timid head poked through. "Uhh… Ms. Darkholme"

There was a sudden scream that sounded much like a girl and Darkholme found a very frightened Todd attached to her. Wolverine smirked and walked through the door. Mystique pushed Todd off her leg in disgust. "What is he doing here?"

"What did you do this time?" She snapped, causing Todd to hurry and take the chair in front of her desk. Todd looked at the ceiling for a few minutes.

* * *

_Earlier…_

_Todd had arrived at school in a good mood. He had a little money leftover from paying off those two jerks from what he had stolen. As far as he was concerned, it was fare game as he had been forced to steal it to save his hide. Due to the incident at the stadium, he had been able to beg off a reprieve from them. Thus he had been able to get them the money._

_He was thinking about getting stuff from the vending machines, when he noticed a table set up in the front foyer. The cheerleaders were busy putting out lollipops. Todd wandered over to him and glanced at those multi colored candies. They swirled with color and he was interested._

" _Are you selling lollipops?" Todd asked, hoping that they were. He loved these lollipops but never had money unless he stole it to get them. His earnings, he told himself, were fairly gained._

" _Yes," On of the cheerleaders said, a skeptical look on her face. She turned up her nose at Todd._

" _Your that Freshman who steals stuff." Another Cheerleader said, grimacing at him._

" _Hey, you can't have any lollipops. There is no way we're going to let you steal any of them." The second retorted._

" _Hey, I was going to pay for them." Todd held up his money, showing the girls that he had no plans to steal their lollipops._

" _You probably stole that money." The second snapped, slapping his hand away._

" _And don't argue that you didn't. Your filthy and obviously street trash frog person, so go away."_

_Todd walked away then jumped onto the ceiling and crawled over so that he was over the table. No one else was at school right now, so that meant that he might not be seen. His tongue shot out while they weren't looking, leaving slime on the table. He then snuck off. He heard them scream, and then took off._

_It wasn't until later when the lollipops were found missing and the cheerleaders had figured out that they hadn't left them somewhere that they had gone and picked out the likely suspect, but the lollipops weren't on him or his locker. But he was the most likely suspect, so he was taken to the office._

* * *

"Uhh… boss lady…" Todd said, twiddling his fingers. "I was accused of something, but the thing is… not guilty until proven guilty?"

"That kind of question hints that you did do what you are accused of but there is no evidence."

"Well, if I answered yes, you'd convict me right here, but if I said no, you would assume I am lying." Todd said, leaning back and still twiddling his fingers, which was errie due to his frog mutation.

"So what will your answer be Todd?"

"My answer? My answer will be, neither, because I won't say anything that will bias the judge against me." Todd said.

Mystique then shaped shifted into a hideous beast, one that she knew that Todd was afraid of. She then growled at him. "Get out of my office!"

Todd scurried out of the office.

* * *

Todd tapped his foot as he stood outside the lunch room. That was when a boy with blue hair walked by him, looking at what was obviously a class schedule. Todd grinned as it was obviously a new kid. He yelled loudly to get his attention.

"Hey, newbie!" Todd yelled. "Hey, noob!"

The boy turned, speaking in a familiar accent that Todd couldn't replace. "Are you talking to me? Oh… it's you…"

"What, me? You already know who I am? You know what a babe magnet I am? Who are you to judge me in that tone?" Todd said, causing the boy to glance at himself carefully.

"Vhi guess vhat vhi vhould not be familiar to you as vhi am a new student," the boy said.

"Why would anyone know the new student?" Todd laughed. He then got an evil idea into his head. "When you want to get a girl to like you, you call them a …"

Todd pulled on the boys ear and whispered the word into his ear. He then pointed to a girl going through her locker. "Why not try it on her?"

The blue boy raised an eyebrow and went over to speak to the girl. Todd was aggravated that he couldn't hear what the other boy was saying. He then became alarmed when the boy pointed at him and a very angry girl came storming over. She quickly said these words. "If you weren't so dirty, I would slap you good and hard. But your filth reflects your mind, trying to teach a bad word to the new kid from the Xavier Institute."

She then stormed off, Todd looking at her in confusion. "What does she mean, new kid? They got another one after the blue fur ball?"

"I AM the blue fur ball you moron," the boy said, clicking off his hollo watch and sticking his tongue out. He then teleported away from the scene, leaving a pup of smoke.

While Toad was coughing and waving the smoke away, the couch walked up to him, an irritated look on his face. "Not only am I told your using bad words, but you've been smoking!"

"You see that I'm coughing! If I was smoking, it is obviously my first time! There were some football jocks, friends of Duncan's I think, who blew smoke in my face,"

"Well… if it was your first time, it was probably peer pressure. Try not to fall for it again… next time you'll be in trouble," the couch said walking off.

"Not unless you can find my fuzzy blue cigarette," Todd stated. This caused the couch to turn back to him.

"Was it just cigarettes? Perhaps you should go see the school nurse. Darkholme would have me kicked out of here if one of her wards got sick. Maybe the football players were smoking something around you… that woman is eerie…" the couch said, writing a pass for Todd to head to the nurse.

"Yeah, she is… but she makes a good… I guess the word for it is foster mother… she has a whole closet full of torture devices. My old foster family had a whole storage unit with torture devices," Todd said, going with the flow.

"Tolansky, anyone tell you you're a pathological liar?" the coach said sneaking away.

Todd called after him waving his nurses pass. "I prefer teller of tall tales!"

* * *

Todd went to the nurses office and had a good reprieve. His lunch was brought to him and he felt he was living like a king. He twiddled his thumbs and had counted three-thousand, fifty-six dots on the ceiling tiles when Duncan came in with a cheerleader.

"Dunk… you sure this is all right?" the cheerleader asked. "I mean, if Jean finds out, she'll have a cow."

"Here's the thing doll." Duncan said, causing Todd to lose count and peek through the curtains to see what was going on. "Everyone knows that she and I are a pair. Since we are both going to end up married… after college, I can see who ever I want. I'll be able to even afterwards because she's into this chaste thing, what ever that means. All I know is it means…"

"Yes… I know what it means," Todd said, speaking up and opening his curtain. "I'm not feeling good."

"Look worm… get lost now!" Duncan stated grabbing Todd by the shirt.

"I'm going to be sick!" Todd then upchucked some of his slime onto Duncan. "Waahhh! Nurse, Duncan was picking on me and I got really sick!"

The nurse came out and grabbed Duncan's shoulder. "You leave that dear alone! Out! And if I catch you doing you know what in here I will write you up!"

"You can't write me up!" Duncan stated, but lost his confidence when he saw his cheerleader friend run away. "I… I guess…"

"I can?" the nurse said, causing Duncan to hurry away. She then went and felt Todd's forehead.

"Mommy, is that you?" Todd lied through his teeth, but she fell for it.

"Deary me, you don't have a fever. You have the chills. Boy, I'm sending you home… well… I would, but the principle is your foster parent. She'll need to take you home…"

"I think I can get home mommy. It isn't far… you could have another student walk you home… Jean Grey's a good sister… a good daughter?"

"Uhh… yes, Jean Grey… I think so," the nurse said.

* * *

Jean was fuming mad, having thought that she had been called down to the nurses office for something important, only to find Todd sitting on the bed. "Hi sissy! I need to go home now! I don't feel good!"

"Uhh… Ms. Halmson… what's going on?"

"Well, Todd Tolansky needs to go home because he's sick… to sick to go by himself, so I need you to take him home, because his foster parent can't. I find you trust worthy… and so does he… he mentioned your name specifically."

"He did, did he," Jean said, not to please. "Come along Todd, let's go."

"Yes sissy! Let's go home!" Todd said, following her out like a little lost puppy.

"You're not really sick, are you?" Jean said, irritation in her voice.

"Nope!" Todd whispered back at her as they passed the principle's office. Darkholme choose to come out at that moment.

"What is going on here?" she asked, a stern look on her face.

"Auntie!" Todd said grabbing her in a hug. "Mommy is sending me home with sissy because I don't feel good."

Darkholme was about to object, when Todd threw up slime onto her shoes. He looked at her with that fake apologetic look on his face. "Sorry Auntie!"

"Ms. Grey… please take Mr. Tolansky home. I am quite sure that when his foster parent will get home, he or she will deal with this sickness of his."

"Come on ugly," Jean said, becoming even more irritated.

"Auntie, sissy's being mean!" Todd said, causing Darkholme to slap her head. Jean grabbed his shirt and began to drag him away, only to have him scream his head off like a little kid. The only thing Mystique could think of that was good about this was Todd was having fun torturing the X-Man.


	7. The Day Before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Storm tries talking to her nephew. Riley's obsession with Lance continues. Scott complains about the adults at Kitty and Lance's current school.

Storm was extremely concerned for her nephew, as Evan had been showing sudden spikes on Cyrebro that were, well… to put it bluntly, rather disturbing. She knew that the reason that the Professor was not pursuing it was because he was leaving it up to Storm to take care of, but if she had wanted him to step in, then he would have.

But Storm didn't want him to step in, Evan was having enough problems listening to her reasoning behind him coming to the school. He also seemed to be either in some denial to himself that it was going on, or he was trying to deny that it was as bad as it really was. She really had to find out what was going on in that boys head and the only way to do so was to go and see him.

So, she took her car from the mansion and began to drive the road to the place. She hoped she could catch Evan before he went to school, maybe even give him a ride so that they could talk. Her sister had been most thrilled and had said something along the lines that Evan was starting to become more distant from them, and that perhaps a visit from Auntie O would do him some good.

Ororo pulled up in front of the place where her sister's family lived and was just in time for Evan to be leaving the house. Evan spotted her, and walked over. At first he was surprised, but that soon left and he was frowning at her. "Auntie O, why are you here?"

"I thought I'd give you a ride to school Evan," was what storm replied.

"Auntie… that's a long way for you to drive, are you sure there isn't something else?" Evan asked.

"Let me see, your mother asked me to talk to you," Ororo said as Evan got into the car.

His eyes suddenly went wide. "Please tell me that you didn't tell them!"

"No… your mother is picking up though that you are hiding something from them," she said, pulling away from the curb.

"It's not as if anything is wrong, I mean… I'm fine at school, real fine," Evan said, looking away. "Plus, schools so close, I can walk and it is only a few minutes drive away."

"It's more of, I really want you to feel like you'd be able to talk to me about this," Ororo said. "And I'm not forcing you to do this… but I am very concerned."

"What do you call this ride to school?" Evan said, "Isn't this forcing me to talk to you?"

"You could have chosen to walk to school," Ororo said. "And if I had wanted to force this ride on you, don't you think I could have found away to make you? I mean, think about what my powers are?"

"Still, Auntie… I don't want to end up in a school for freaks," Evan said. He suddenly saw the disappointment in her eyes. "I didn't mean you were a freak… it's just, it would be a whole lot easier if… there was someone who wasn't that could still understand. I mean… look at the fact mom won't talk about Africa. Something happened to you, didn't it."

"That's a story for another day child. Not that I don't think your ready for it, but… I'm the one not ready to talk about it. But, you are right, something did happen. The reason your mother doesn't talk about it, or your father, is out of respect for me. If I was more comfortable talking about it, they would have told you, that or if they felt they needed to."

It was then that she pulled up to the school and Evan hopped out. "Thanks Auntie O for the ride. No offense to mom, but you dress a whole lot cooler."

"I also didn't have the responsibility of raising a teenager," Storm said, shaking her head in mirth.

"But you have a couple of teenagers at the place," Evan pointed out, causing Ororo to laugh.

"Evan, it isn't the same as raising your own child," she said, shaking her head.

"Well, whatever, thanks for the ride," Evan said, taking off. He headed up the pathway, only to be tripped by a white haired kid. The white haired kid suddenly noticed her and waved at her, grinning at her and pretending he really hadn't done anything. Evan however started to argue with him. Ororo only shook her head at him. Eventually he would have to tell his parents, otherwise she would have to say something.

* * *

Riley was in a very good mood as she had picked out the perfect outfit to make it so that a certain someone would perchance to like her. She was very bad at taking hints from people that they didn't want her around, but she also never gave up on something she wanted, ever.

Her good mood however was dampened when Kitty Pryde showed up, getting her books. Her friends whispered into her ear. "I'd figured that the Kitty Cat would have been sent packing by now… but I guess she needs some more embarrassment."

"Indeed, as she doesn't belong anywhere near us," Riley commented. She walked over to the other girl and slammed her locker shut while she was trying to get something out.

"Thanks a lot… don't you know how to be nice to anyone," Kitty said, a frown on her face.

"I'm surprised that your still here," Riley purred. "Considering I've made it so that you are even more unpopular at this school then you were at our previous ones."

"Did it go through either of your heads that maybe I don't care about popularity," Kitty said, opening her locker again.

"Maybe you didn't get the clue that you're the bottom of the food chain, a cat that doesn't eat meat and gets throttled because of it," Riley said, trying to goad her.

"Are you trying to say that because of my family's traditions, and the fact we don't eat certain kinds of meat," Kitty said, becoming angry.

"What, are you some kind of hippie? I mean, what family now in modern time lives by that junk of saving the little baby chickens," Riley said.

"That just shows how much you don't know about the world," Kitty said.

"Do you want me to push you into your locker for that ignorant remark?" Riley said, her lips pushed tight.

"Riley… he's coming… you don't want to be seen with her…" her friend hissed, suddenly causing Riley to shove Kitty into her locker.

"Hey! Let me out of here!" Kitty said, only to be muffled by Riley and her friend leaning up against the locker. It was then that some one came down the hall way, the person who had attracted Riley's attention.

"Hello!" Riley said, putting on her best charm.

"How many times do I have to tell you, not interested," and then the person were gone.

"This is all your fault Pryde!" Riley suddenly blurted out. "See if anyone lets you out of there!"

Kitty banged pretty hard on the metal of the locker, but there were no other students to notice her, or if there were, they choose to ignore her. There was also no reason for any of the custodial personnel to come and clean anything, as it was too early in the morning, so the distraught teenager was stuck in the locker.

* * *

Scott was sitting up at the front of the school watching as the men went about adding the security features to the building. Scarlet leaned against the wall, shaking her head at all of what was going on. "All this for a kid… all they would need to do is keep a better eye on their computers. The last few days, I've seen almost no one in here."

"That's because they are too busy patrolling the halls for loiterers," imputed the boy. "They are so focused on keeping their image of the school with the students, that… if there was an outside threat, there really would be a problem."

"What I would like to know is, where is that Principle? I mean, I haven't seen him here at all," Scarlett said, none to pleased. "And I also haven't seen him greeting the students as they came in."

"I have the feeling that he is an alien fanatic, not to mention conspiracy fanatic… I over heard one student say that the Principle was over heard wondering if the _specialist group, that's_ us, really were from the government."

"Well, he probably believes in all the ones that aren't true and none of them that actually are true," Scarlet commented. "I mean, he could have pegged me for what I am."

"Don't you know, conspiracy nuts mistake that which is not for that which is and that which is for that which is not," Scott stated. "I'm going to go for a short walk… hopefully I don't get mauled by an extra-terrestrial."

Scott hadn't gotten far down the hallway, when he heard a muffled cry for help. He walked over to a locker. "Let me out of here!"

"Sheesh… if only I had been able to bring Spud with me," Scott said, thinking about the discussion about the fact that Spud would only cause problems as people looked at him. Expesully with the Principle the way he was. "Hold on, I'll go get help."

Scott headed back to where Scarlett was, where she was scowling deeply. She then noticed Scott. The look on her face told her that something was up. "What's going on… the Principle come up with death rays to keep the computers safe."

"No Scar… there's someone stuck in a locker down the way," Scott said.

"Humph… and they're supposedly patrolling the halls? If they can't notice a student is in this predicament, I don't want to know what would happen in other predicaments." Scarlett said, letting out a sigh. "Come on, let's go and see if we can't help this person."

Scarlett followed Scott over to where the locker was and she pulled out a set of lock picks. She then went and jimmied the lock, causing the door to spring open. A girl hopped out of the door. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I thought nobody would ever let me out!"

Scarlett looked the girl over and shook her head. In the mean time, the girl had caught onto Scarlett's odd appearance with the odd head gear. Scarlett though was the first to speak. "How is it a small thing like you got into there… I thought it was jocks who did stuff like this and I would hope that they wouldn't push the girls into the lockers… only the nerds… though pity on nerds too."

"It wasn't jocks," Kitty spoke up. "It was a couple of girls who… well, they've always picked on me… I'm not as pretty as them… oh, man! I've got to get to P.E."

But then the bell rang, causing Kitty to groan and hang her head. "Not again…"

"If it means anything to you, you aren't an ugly girl and it's a good thing your not one of the ones all dolled up. When a girl becomes all dolled up and over does it, it can cause problems. Plus, it's what's inside that counts the most,"

"Oh, well, thank you again! I have to get to my next class!" Kitty said, hurrying off.

"Why do I have the feeling that she's going to get stuffed into a locker again," Scott spoke up, shaking his head.

"Well… probably because her heart is one that is not for standing up for itself… but if someone else was having a problem, chances are the situation would be different, but perhaps not. One can never know…" Scarlett said.

* * *

Lance was up on one of the big hills, watching the students move about campus and waiting for his two friends to report in. His two goons came up shuffling to him as he was waiting for them. The looks on their faces told them that they had no luck in getting the information.

"They were busy up on the roof Lance,"

"Then guess what, while I'm spray painting the school, you two loons have to check it out then. I mean, it is thanks to you I postponed my spray painting trip in the first place."


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kitty hopes for a normal life. Jean doesn't understand the reason she's going along when Logan is along for the ride. Lance isn't in a good mood.

_Dear Diary -_

_What does one do when they find out that they are different in someway that is life changing? Does one sit around and mope about the whole situation? Or do they go and worry about how people will think of them? Do they accept the change that has happened, or do they fight it to their best ability?_

_Last night, I had a dream… no, a nightmare, that I was flying, and then I was falling. It had been so nice up until then, such a respite from Riley and Amy that I was happy. Then, when I was falling, I thought… who's going to miss me? Mum and dad sure would, but at school… Riley and Amy would just find someone knew to pick on._

_One might ask, was the life changing event one that was about realizing that one has no friends and their life means nothing. I already knew that, and I am not suicidal. I am defiantly not that. But with the way Riley and Amy have been pushing me, I just want to become invisible, so that they can't see me._

_So what do I get from that wish? A ghost's ability, but not that to become invisible. I ghost through things. At first we thought I was sleep walking… then we saw my stuff stuck in the ceiling. How come Riley or Amy couldn't have gotten this and have been stuck in a block of cement? The things are still stuck in the basement ceiling and the floor of my room, so I still know it is real._

_I'd love to use this to disappear through a wall when I see them coming and them not disappearing, but obviously… I have no control over this, which isn't fare, so I can't go and scare them into thinking that I am haunting them! Which is a major bummer… but maybe when I do get control… if I ever get control._

_I mean, come on! Who else has these abilities! I feel like I am so alone in the world! I want to be able to leap to great heights with it, but will this ostracize me even more? Mum and dad seem to think so… or more of, they didn't realize I was already ostracized, so they want to keep me cooped up in here! But, I want a life, so this is why I am starting in this journal/diary._

_Also, I am putting down here… I am going to try to sneak out. I am going to try to be normal, at least as normal as possible. I mean, hello… I wasn't normal before, so why do I need to worry? So… let's wait for the right time, and I will sneak out of the house._

_Love Kitty Pryde!_

* * *

Jean was packing her books for school, when the professor called her up to his office with his telepathy. She could only frown as she marched up the stairs. Surely she hadn't done anything that wrong. She walked past the bathroom and saw the door open. Kurt was sitting on the toilet, trimming his toe nails.

Jean had to smile, because Kurt had never seen a shower before. That was how remote his country was, or more of, his adopted parents house was. He had jumped to the ceiling in shock when he had messed with the different knobs in the room. But still, for all his misunderstandings about American culture, Kurt was _really_ loving it here, expesully since he could look like a normal kid.

She walked into the office and set her book bag down in the chair and took a seat. The Professor gave her a serious look, but then, when was he not serious. "Jean, I need you to come with me… I've found a mutant signature. Logan… he'll be coming with, but he is on a different mission."

"Why can't Logan and you be enough?" Jean asked.

"Jean, let me say this clearly… we had a new mutant signature pop up, two actually,"

"So, Logan will be handling the other one?" Jean asked, "And you this one… I am thus defiantly not needed and I can go take my tests today."

"I've already written an excuse for you to miss today. Logan isn't going to the other mutant, and you and I are going to the one… let's just say, it deals with a young girl who might be in need of someone to give her a few tips, maybe convince the parents that you are normal."

"So… that's why Scott and Kurt aren't able to help on this one… I would rather be taking my tests, but… an order is an order," Jean said glumly.

"Good… Logan is preparing the X-Jet, I suggest you go and put your books away… no need to suit up for this one.

"What about the other mutant?"

"I'll handle it in time," Xavier stated.

* * *

Lance was packing his school bag for school, though not with books. What was the point in learning anything, if one was being treated like they couldn't learn anything? Instead, he was packing in his spray cans, hoping that he would be able to make a huge mess of the school during passing period. It was one of the things he was looking forward to today.

Lance then went to step outside, when one of the foster care kids in the house hurried up to him in his wheel chair. "Lance! Lance!"

"What is it Emerson… I really need to get to school," Lance said, trying to not look the kid in the eyes. For some reason the kid had latched onto him ever since he had gotten to the place. The child shoved a paper bag into his hand.

"I helped mom make lunch today. Here's yours!" the nine year old child said, quite proud of his achievement. A hint of smile spread on Lance's face.

"That was pretty cool of you to do that for me, thanks," Lance said, giving his little salute to the kid with his finger and causing him to laugh. He then stepped out the door. He couldn't figure out why Emerson was so happy go lucky, except that the kid had never ended up in a bad home.

* * *

Scott Abernathy was in the hotel room with Scarlett and Spud when a message came through to Scarlett. She glanced at it and a smile spread on her face. "Looks like the jet they use is cleared for a landing near by…"

It was then that her smile turned to a frown. "Why though are they coming now… I haven't seen any reason to move you yet. That boy with powers… he also had to have been noticed before… so then…"

Scott read her mind. "So then there might be another mutant now, around the school?"

"Yeah… but I don't understand why they hadn't gone near the boy… I mean, he is one of the ones in great need of that school of theirs. Joe's only heard good thing about this Xavier person… so I wonder what his reasons are,"

"Would he have axcess to the kids records… maybe he knows that it is a foster kid… would he shun them, or practice more caution… maybe it isn't someone with new power, but they had been waiting for the right chance to come here?" Scott said, worry in his voice.

"I'm quite sure they take in troubled kids too Scott… but they probably have to be careful… I know that when Joe was fully operational… well, we had some pretty wacked out characters and it led to some very interesting times," Scarlett stated, still pondering the situation.

"Yeah, but they were still Joes!" Scott commented. "We had better get to the school, I mean, the Principle has basically fired us, but I am quite sure the kid is going to find someway to make his move today… and get in huge trouble in the process. If we could stop him, or convince him not to do what he's planning."

"How do you know it is today Scott?" Scarlett asked suddenly.

"Well, if he is going to go and steal those test answers, then he needs to do it today, as the test is tomorrow. If they want to sell them, they need them today," Scott stated.

"This can't be good at all," Scarlett said, not to pleased with the situation.

* * *

Kitty Pryde was glad to be out of the house. She was even more happy that her mother had been so willing to let her go, so her day was made… though she knew that Riley and Amy would defiantly pick on her. She was walking at a fast speed, when suddenly Kitty saw a motorcycle drive past her.

Kitty suddenly stretched and had a smile on her face. She had always wanted to drive a motercyle, but she was quite sure that her parents would have objected to her even touching one, not to mention someone who owned on. It then dawned on her that no one in town owned a motorcycle that cool, all the ones she had seen were junkers.

She just shrugged her shoulders and quickened her pace to get to school on time. She didn't realize that back at her house, her parents were talking to some people about her. She also didn't know her father was being over protective as he had that morning.

* * *

Mr. Pryde went up the stairs to Kitty's room. When those people had come knocking, he had made up his mind that his family was moving. His wife just shook her head and followed him up the stairs. He opened the door to Kitty's room, his jaw dropping. "Kitty… where's Kitty? We refused, so they kidnapped her?"

"Kitty snuck out earlier… she didn't want to miss school," her mother said.

"She needs to be in here, not out there," Mr. Pryde said, frowning at his wife.

"You know what she told me. She wants to be as normal as possible, even with having this weird thing happen to her. She felt we were being overprotective,"

"Nonsence, I was…"

"No, your thoughts are nonsence. Look at the fact that Kitty is upset. Look at the fact you are running away from the situation, I mean, come on! We were keeping our own daughter prisoner in her own room! The education people would come knocking if we kept her out of school. We talked things over, but we didn't listen to her… I don't think we ever really have,"

"We can't pretend that everything is alright though!"

"We did when Kitty brought the fact she was being bullied forward!" her mom said. "For some reason, I think she was very serious about that. And if she was being bullied, perhaps going to a new school, isn't such a bad idea. I mean, hello, she might want the fresh start!"

"I'll think about it,"

* * *

Logan drove up to the front of the school where he knew he would find Scott and Scarlett, like he had been told before. He saw the red head drive up in her convertible and stop the car and get out. "My, long time no see, Logan!"

"Hello Scarlett… I see the kid looks more like his mother then his father… what happened to her," Logan asked.

"She disappeared or died… classified, you know. Don't mention it in front of Scott," Scarlett said.

Suddenly, Logan found himself knocked over by a metal dog. He almost pulled out his claws then and there, but the dog was being pulled off. "Spud, no! I'm sorry, but Spud likes meeting new people… he can over do it sometimes…"

Logan stood up and dusted himself off and looked the boy up and down again. "Kiddo, you make that monstrosity?"

"I kind of cheated… I found how to make him come to life from hacking the Cobra computers through getting axcess through my fathers password to the Joe's computers. I caused a huge fiasco,"

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Yeah… he'll fit right in… I swear, it's beginning to look like Jr. Joes and Jr. Cobras… what we have… did you know that Mystique sent in one of her kids into the mansion to try and spy on us. Charles had to wipe his mind."

"Cool! A telopath! One of the Cobras, he had this ability to cloak himself or change shape!"

"Yes… Mystique is even better then him… unfortunately. And this kid… has amphibian abilities."

"There is a kid here who hacked the computer system… he has the ability to shake the earth,"

"Nothing phases you… wait, did you say kid that can shake the earth… you mean the kid Charles has been keeping track of?"

"Yeah… a foster kid with a bad reputation. We got so called fired by the principle, well, not really, more of, he isn't listening to us and thinks that it might actually be terrorists…"

"Or aliens," Scott imputed.

"Or aliens, yes… he is that weird. Anyways, my point is, the principle is expecting terrorists, but he isn't expecting an adolescent teenager to try to go and steal the awnsers for the tests tomorrow,"

"Good grief, I wish that Charles hadn't decided to wait until he felt the kid was ready for him to approach him. This one seems in need of intervention. He's big on letting the kids come on their own free will… you could say he's almost a pacifist… imphasis on the pacifist,"

"Well, that explains why you haven't added him to your school roster. Are you guys here to pick up him, or is there another mutant child in need of help," Scarlett asked.

"I'm here for Scott, since the trip was so convinent. That metal beast too I guess," Logan said, looking at Spud like he wasn't to sure of the thing waging his tail at him. "Charles and Jean, they're heading out to try to convince the parents of a girl who's powers manifested last night that the school would be good for her."

'That can't be easy," Scarlett said. Logan watched as a girl approached and hurried into the school.

"That girl that just passed… she's the girl whose powers just manifested," Logan said.

"She's going about her life like everything is normal?" Scarlett said, shaking her head.

"Why not," Scott said. "I can understand some people being upset and tossing out life, but others will handle it quite well."

"Doesn't change kid, the fact that it isn't a normal experience and the kids have all sorts of thoughts in their heads. Take Kurt for example… he doesn't just have his teleportation mutation, he's apparently had a major physical mutation since birth. So be forewarned kid, don't make fun of him about it,"

"Understood," Scott stated.


	9. The Day of - During

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott and Scarlett deal with the principle's conspiracy theories. Scarlett also discusses Snake Eyes with Wolverine. Riley remains a pain in the neck.

Scarlett and Scott went inside to check on the principle, who just stared at them. Scarlett had volunteered Logan, much to his dismay, to watch Spud. The principle wasn't happy to see them and had some tort comments. "The government didn't seem fit to address the problem," he snapped. "So it cost the school money to add the certain security measures."

"We told you, it wasn't terrorists," Scott commented.

"This being said by the so called computer analysis, who's what… fourteen, fifteen? This speaks of conspiracy. Sheesh, how do I know you didn't kill the agents who were supposed to come?" the man retorted.

"You're seriously mental!" Scarlett snapped. "I'm beginning to question your job!"

"I had good job references," the principle said, jutting out his chest and sticking his nose slightly in the air.

"It doesn't seem you have any experience with children," Scarlett stated, shaking her head and crossing her arms at him.

"What does it matter whether or not I have?" The man said, glaring at her. "I have the qualifications."

"However, do you have the skills necessary to take care of these kids?" Scarlett said, getting to her point.

"I do not get what you mean by that," the principle snapped. "It is irrelevant to everything."

"It is relevant to everything! I've seen your so called skills at work as a principle, they're horrible. So what makes you think you have the qualifications, let alone skills to judge whether of not this was a terrorist hacking your computer and not one of your students. Your majorly incompetent!"

"Says the one who've I've yet to see qualifications for… ," the principle stated. "Plus, none of my students hacked the computers. It was an outside source."

"My qualifications? If you knew, it is likely I would have to main or kill you," Scarlett grumbled. "Plus what are your stupid security measures going to do about an outside source?"

"That's the kind of government con…"

"Look, everyone knows that some people are like that in the government, where they can't tell you their information. It isn't a conspiracy,"

This caused Scott to decide to wander off, not wanting to listen anymore. A girl and a boy were talking to each other, perhaps on not so good terms. Scott quickly recognized the boy as the one who had hacked the computer. The girl was the one that had run into the school, the one Logan's group was trying to, one could possibly say, connect too.

It was then that the girl pushed the boy away from her and hurried down the hallway. The boy watched at he left, then turned towards Scott, not noticing that the other boy was there. He walked looking down at his feet but in a few seconds looked up and stopped. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," Scott said, only to have the boy glare at him.

The boy narrowed his eyes at him and suddenly spoke. "Exactly how much did you see back there?"

"Nothing…" Scott commented. "Other then the fact you were trying to talk to that girl who hurried off."

"If you think I was trying to hassle her… hit on her, I wasn't," the boy then tilted his head a little bit. "If I find out that you saw what happened before that and you go and rat her out, I will make you pay. I don't care if you rat me out, but her…"

Scott blinked a couple of times. The boy noticed that he didn't comprehend what he was saying, so shoved by him. Scott took the time to add something. "Just because you act all tough… it doesn't mean your stupid."

"Look… I don't know the hell who you are or what the hell your talking about, but _buzz_ off! I don't need any prep school rich kid telling me off," the boy said, backing up to flick Scott's sunglasses off his head. The other boy then marched off, while Scott picked up his glasses and shook his head.

* * *

Kitty Pryde hurried into the locker room and quickly changed. The boy had quite upset her and she wanted nothing to do with him. Not only did he look somewhat scary, but his ability was scary too. This suddenly caused her to stop and sit down on the bench and stare at her hands.

Her own power, ghosting through walls, that was rather scary too, but not like his. His was scary because of the power behind his powers. Hers were scary because she didn't think she would ever be able to control them. She also didn't understand why this was happening to her, though perhaps that boy might actually know.

In Kitty's mind, she thought about how, if she had control of her powers, there were major options about what she could do with them. The first that flashed through her mind was that she could freak out Riley and Amy, making them think that she was dead and make them think they were being haunted. She tried to imagine the looks on their faces, but couldn't quite do it.

She then stood up to put on her gym shorts. This resulted in her falling over and crashing through one of the lockers. She wrinkled her nose, recognizing the strong smell as one of Riley's annoying perfumes. While stuck there, Kitty grabbed one of the lipsticks, for while she had the chance to get back with a major prank.

* * *

Scarlett and scot them went back to Scarlett's convertible when they heard a thumping noise coming from the trunk. The Logan guy was leaning against the can, a smirk on her face. Scarlett could only slap her forehead, realizing what had happened. "Good grief… please tell me you didn't put the dog into my trunk."

"So what if I did?" Logon smirked, shrugging his shoulders as he did so.

"You're way to much like the Joes. Wait! I nearly forgot, you were asked to join us and refused!" Scarlett commented.

"Fine… but how's Snake Eyes and the others?"

"Logan! Don't purposely change the subject!"

"Fine, about the dog…" Logan started, only to be interrupted by Scarlett.

"No! Since we're one the subject, we'll talk about Snake Eyes, Snake Eyes and the time you got a whole bunch of the guys drunk along with yourself and Snake Eyes. As I recall, his behavior freaked out some of them, not because they hadn't seen him drunk before, but because _somebody_ took the time to translate his sing language, which… whenever he is drunk is extremely morbid!"

Scott bit back his laughter as Logan retorted back. "Yeah… at least I was there when he got drunk and was able to handle him,"

"Logan! Snake Eyes doesn't have to relive those ghosts of his past!" Scarlett snapped.

"How do you know he doesn't relive them without alcohol Scar?" Logan said, shaking his head.

"That wasn't my point and you know it," Scarlett snapped again.

"Scar… seriously, even Snake Eyes needs some time to unwind,"

"He has a point… though couldn't it be some other way?" Scott commented.

Logan firmly grabbed his shoulders and turned him. "Watch the field kid. This is an adult conversation."

"Fine… I guess you also want me to forget all I might hear. Hey… isn't that the girl that you guys are trying to recruit?"

"Sure is. Looks like she messed up on the long jump and…" suddenly they felt the earth move a little where they were and a girl who seemed quite prissy fall to the ground. Logan shook his head, and as he spoke up a rented car drove up behind them, "That little punk!"

"Calm down Logan," said a voice unfamiliar to Scott and Scarlett. Both turned and saw a car being driven by a red head and in the passenger seat was a bald guy.

"Hello Charles," Logan said, moving to the back and getting a wheelchair out and opening the passenger side. The man moved so that he could get into the chair. "The little Pixie's now running off I see."

"That doesn't mean she doesn't like what he did," the red head commented, then glanced at the strangers. "Though I wouldn't know what he did was, but I'll go and see if I can't have a chat with her about girl stuff."

Scott frowned as the girl hurried off, only to have Xavier nod his head at her. "Don't mind Jean… she prefers to be secretive of what we are. I can safely assume, without reading your mind that you are the one who will be joining our institute who isn't one of us?"

"Yes sir," Scott said, reaching forward and shaking the man's hand.

"It's very good to meet you two," the man commented. Another earthquake came and startled them. The cars and motorcycle were jarred just right so that their tires popped. The sidewalk also buckled and broke, while a fire-hydrant launched itself skyward, showering them with water.

"Wonderful," Logan commented. "The kid has anger issues." While the man said this, Scarlett glanced up at where she figured the boy would be… a place that had an advantage point of both the field and the front. She could have sworn that the boy had glared straight at her before he turned to leave.

* * *

When Riley felt the ground shake beneath her feet and felt herself falling, she hadn't had a clue what was going on at first. Then she looked up and saw Kitty's look of shock that quickly changed to horror. She figured then that Kitty might have had an idea of what had happened to her and Riley might possibly be able to bully her into telling her.

It was then that Riley looked in the direction that Kitty had been looking in, causing the bully to become quite riled. Kitty had taken notice of _her_ boyfriend, though Riley wouldn't admit that she was really a long way from being even an acquaintance of the boy. "How dare she!"

"How dare she what?" Amy said, hurrying over to help her up, concern in her voice.

"How _dare_ does that pitiful pipsqueak dare even look at my boyfriend!"

"Kitty looked at Lance?" Amy asked.

This caused Riley to glare at her best friend. "What do you mean… Lance?"

"I was going to tell you before Kitty showed up, that I had done some digging for you. Now that you have something to your advantage… well, think of it this way. There is no way that Kitty would know the name of the boy, she is so pitiful. And she doesn't stand a chance of getting together with him, I mean he's a bad goy, she's a goodie two shoes."

"Possibly on the first, definite on the second. She's too pitiful for him to ever take any interest in," Riley said, a smile on her face. Suddenly, she and Amy were screaming with other girls on the field as a fire-hydrant launched into the air. They saw majorly damaged sidewalk.

"Girls… please go inside and change. I have to talk to the principle about closing school early. Apparently, we're having earthquakes… in a place that isn't supposed to have any headaches… I mean… earthquakes."

"Yes!" Riley commented. "I bet that Kitty will get lost in the building and it will collapse on her!"

"Grrr… that would be awesome. Oh, and check it! I found out where his foster parents live," Amy commented, following Riley into the locker room, not thinking about the building falling upon them. They had their minds focused on boys.

"It get's better and… what the!" Riley said as she opened her locker. On Riley's mirror was a very weird cat face scribbled on the glass with Riley's lipstick… though Riley thought it was the devil. She saw Kitty hurry into the locker room. "Did you do this?"

"Huh… that looks like something someone would do to me," Kitty said as she quickly hurried to change her clothes. An announcement was being made that school would be closed for the rest of the day. "And no, it isn't something one would expect from me, is it?"

"How am I to be sure?" Riley snapped.

"Where would I have gotten the paint stick from?" Kitty asked, pretending to not know that it had been done in lipstick. She then hurried off before Riley could continue.

* * *

Jean was mad at the earthquake boy. Somehow, he was connecting more with Kitty then she was. And the thing was, she and Kitty were both girls and came from good families, so she should have been able to connect with her better. But both Kitty and that boy seemed to have something that Jean couldn't relate to and she couldn't put her finger on it.

There was also something about the boy, the way he had responded to her. It seemed that as soon as he had seen her, before he knew if she was a mutant or not, he had formed an opinion of her. There was a great deal of disgust in his voice and some sort of bitter resentment, making Jean want to break her moral code of not reading minds, in order to figure out what his problem with her was.

When she arrived at the car, she found the boy and woman still standing there, which confused her. The boy turned to her, asking ",So… did you take to that girl about her problem?"

"I don't know why it's any concern of yours, but yes… I did. She thought I was some preppy high schooler."

"No offence… but you _look_ like a preppy high schooler who happens to be big on the in crowd," the boy commented, making Jean want to flick his sunglasses off his forehead.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Jean asked.

"Look…" the read head started. "You're very pretty, you have charisma, you carry yourself well, you're the kind of girl who would fit in anywhere… well, any where that doesn't deal with drugs and stuff."

"What about you," Jean commented, comparing herself to the woman.

"Me?" the red head startled. 'I don't understand why you'd ask that. Back in high school, none of the girls would hang out with me and the guys wanted to stay twenty feet away… until I wore that dress to prom… then for some reason the guys had a different opinion and wouldn't leave me alone and the girls wanted to pick a fight."

"Ha ha! Scarlett wore a prom dress," Logan suddenly laughed, only to be punched in the shoulder. "Just, I wouldn't have thought it, what with your family consisting of four older brothers and one younger one who help your father run a dojo."

"You know them Logan?" Jean asked, her confusion growing.

"This is the boy whose father is a friend of Logan's," Xavier stated.

"The non-mutant who will get to live with us," Jean commented. "What's his name?"

"It can wait," Logan stated, smirking. "Look at this mess…"

"One of the kids at school can control earth movement," Scott imputed.

"Yes…" Jean muttered. "I kind of figured that out. I had a run in with him where he basically told me I had no clue about what Kitty was going through and to back off. He had a major issue with me."

"I _think_ he has a problem with redheads," Scarlett commented. "I am not sure, but when this earthquake here happened, he was looking straight at me, but I could be wrong."

"Seriously… that kid has a major attitude problem… would fit right in with the Joes," Wolverine laughed as the students came streaming out of the school. "What the hell is going on?"

"That was when Kitty's parents drove up. They both hurriedly got out off the car. He mother was the first to speak up. "Have any of you seen Kitty? They announced on the news that the school is closing."

"Has her secret been found out? Has the military been called in? Are they going to experiment on our baby?" Kitty's father suddenly spurted out.

Scarlett glared at the parent, not happy that the government was mentioned the way it was, considering what she had to deal with. "Sir… it was probably the earthquakes… that was probably the reason that they called off school early."

"What Earthquakes!" Mr. Pryde said, concern in his voice.

"The one who seems to have made Kitty think he, out of all people can understand her," Jean commented.

"Hold on…" Scott aid. "What exactly is kitty's power… Mr. Logan?"

"She's supposed to be able to ghost through… walls," Logan commented, realizing where this was going.

"Scarlett! With Kitty he can get through the walls to the school computer system," the boy said.

"Past what security system!" Mr. Pryde panicked.

"Jean, take Kitty's parents to her." Xavier commented. Jean nodded her head and Kitty's parents hurried after her anxiously. Xavier then turned to Scott. "Why exactly does that boy want to get into the schools computers?"

"Near the beginning of the school year he hacked the computer system earlier this week and sent all the teachers paychecks back to the fund that they come from," Scott said. "With their special exam that they give at the beginning and end of the school year, I think he's trying to steal the exam answers."

"He has the know how to do this?" Xavier questioned when Scott and Scarlett both nodded their heads. "I wish somebody would tell me why people neglect children like that… actually, I know why, it has never made sense to me."

"You're not the only one," Wolverine stated.

"One could say that the Joe was… no still is comprised of such people that don't quite fit in normally and that, some of them having been neglected," Scarlett commented.

"Logan… if this turns disastrous, I don't think we';; be able to win the boy over easily. _She_ is here," Charles commented.

" _Her_?" Logan commented. "You want me to get rid of her? Or knock some sense into the boy?"

"No Logan… it is likely to cause a scene and actually drive the boy further away," Xavier said. "We have to hope he'll come on his own."

"Yeah right Charles," Logan said. "Not when she's got her claws in them,"

"Who?" Scott asked, only to hear the man mutter something that he couldn't hear, but that Scarlett could.

"Mystique … kid, it's a good thing she's not with Cobra, or we might have something to contend with," came from the red head. "It also isn't good that she's running solo anymore… I hear she's under someone else."

"No… her being with Eric isn't good," Xavier commented. Suddenly a loud rumbling was heard from the section of the school building that the school offices were in.

"No! The buildings collapsing," Scarlett commented. "Is anyone still in the building!"

"Only Jean, Kitty and her parents… plus the boy. He seems to have lost his temper at the fact that Kitty wants to go with her parents on this." Xavier commented.

"Come on then," Scarlett commented. "Let's see if we can't help them." They all hurried off towards the building, just as it was collapsing down and Kitty was pulling three people out with her.

Kitty's father, when he regained his composer turned to Xavier. "I understand now why it is a good thing for her to learn to use her powers. She can go to your school."

"What… what's going to happen to that boy?" Kitty's mother asked.

"He probably died in the wreck, which would serve him right," Kitty's father commented, making his daughter turn a little pale.

"Would he have deserved it?" Xavier asked him.

"He nearly killed four other people other then himself," Mr. Pryde commented. "Even if he wasn't trying to kill, he lost control of his powers."

"Daddy… isn't that what their school is about? Learning to control your powers?" Kitty asked.

"I… you have a point sweet heart. That boy though… he seemed to be a major juvenile delinquent,"

"You would be too, very likely, if you'd ended up in some of the foster homes this kid has been in… they've mostly been the bad kind," Logan stated. "Hey bub… why don't we take your wife and daughter home, then you can take me to a place to get new tires."

"I … uhh, yes," Mr. Pryde commented, a little bit intimidated by Logan. "Why didn't you bring him by the house? He would have been persuasive."

"Did you want us to seem like a military boot camp?" Logan asked jokingly. "If I had my…"

"You don't Logan," Xavier said with a grin upon his face.


	10. The Day of - After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arrangements for Scott Abernathy are finalized.

The first thing Scott did was to let Spud out of the trunk where Logan had stashed him. The first thing Spud did was jump on Jean and knock her over. The second thing Spud did was to jump on Professor X, who was sitting peacefully in his wheelchair. "A remarkable work of machinery."

"Yes… remarkable," Jean commented. She glared at Spud as if he was a monstrosity.

"Come on Spud… let's go dig that computer out for Mainframe. He'll want to use it," Scott commented.

"Shouldn't you wait for the government?" Jean suddenly asked. "I men, isn't that usually what happens?"

"I do work for the government kiddo. That's why we're here in the first place. Typically we handle bigger terrorist threats, but since there is a lull in activity, we were assigned to a hacker case that the principle called in as a terrorist," Scarlett commented as a van pulled up, causing her eyebrows to furrow. A man rolled down the window.

"Hello Scarlett,"

"Long Range… what brings you here?"

"Not that Duke doesn't trust you Scar, but he didn't like leaving you and the kid here without backup," the man said, getting out.

"Well, your first order is to help the kid dig out the computer,"

"She's the leader of the group of yours?" Jean asked the man.

"Yeah, when Duke's not around." Long Range commented meekly, then hurried over to where Scott was.

"He seems relatively normal," Xavier commented.

"Yes, well… Long Range can't do simple math," Scarlett commented. "But give him a huge equation not on paper, he solves it instantly, so long as he doesn't have to put it down on paper."

* * *

Long Range walked over to where Scott was with Spud. The dog was already digging. "Kid, this is going to take forever."

"No, it isn't… Spud's got the location and he's figured out how to dig it out," Scott said, watching his pet carefully.

Long Range watched as the dog would move the big debris out of the way. "He defiantly is remarkable."

"Yeah… Long Range, we're being watched," Scott commented.

"By someone from Cobra?"

"No… the kid with the earthquake powers is watching from up there," Scott commented as a fire truck drove up to the school. Long Range flashed a badge showing that he was allowed to be there, all Joe's carried one from their original units, whether it was army, marines or air force, or any of the other divisions of national defense.

"Is that robot a cadaver dog?" one of the firefighters asked.

"No… he's not," Scott commented. "He's looking for the school computer."

"I see… whatever for?"

"The principle filed a claim that terrorists had hacked the school computers," Long Range commented.

"So then… was it terrorists that did that,"

"No… there was no terrorist," Long Range commented. "Just the principle thinking that there was, so we have to cover our bases. Plus… it's a bonus if we can get the school up and running again."

"True… do you know if there was anybody inside?" the firefighter asked.

"Don't believe so," Scott said, reflecting on what Professor X had said. "There was a mandatory evacuation because of some earthquakes."

"We don't have earthquakes here," commented the firefighter.

"Doesn't mean weird things don't happen or occur," Long Range commented.

It was then that the principle hurried up. "What the hell happened here! I told you that terrorists would attack the school!"

"Sir… it wasn't terrorists," Long Range commented, shaking his head in the man.

"Then why are you taking the computer? It's to cover up the shotty job you did to catch the terrorists before they attacked!"

"No.. it's to cover the red tape procedures and to get the school back up and running as soon as possible… that or you dig out all those paper files,"

"So says the aliens!" the principle snapped at him.

"Hey! I'm an American citizen," Long Range said, insulted by what the man said.

"That's only because the government hired extraterrestrials and gave them citizenship and false papers so that no one knows that they are here! Not to mention amnesty!" the man said.

"Wow… what a nice break from what we usually do," Long Range said sarcastically as two firefighters hauled the principle away. "I mean, he fits right in with the nut jobs."

It was then that Scott was taking the computer from Spud. He glanced up at the hill and noticed a woman talking to the boy, but couldn't make her out due to the sunlight being in the wrong position. Long Range tapped him on the shoulder. "Come on Scott, let's get the computer in the van."

* * *

Rile looked up the foster family that Lance lived with in the phone book finding out where they lived. She hurried over to the house without Amy, hoping to be there when Lance got home from school. She leaned up against one of the cars in the driveway.

A van drove up and a lady got out and used the wheelchair lift to help a boy down. "I'm glad therapy …" the woman startled suddenly, taking notice of Riley. "Who are you?"

"I'm Lance's girlfriend," Riley commented, a wicked grin on her face.

"Really…" the woman said, narrowing her eyes at Riley. "This is not something he's told us about. Are you sure that you're his girlfriend."

"I'm positive," Riley lied, grinning at the woman as she did so. "My name is Riley Somers."

"May I ask why he and you are together?" the woman asked.

"What else teenage couples are together for, sex," Riley commented.

This caused the woman to suddenly turn toward Riley, anger in her yes. "Go inside." She said to the boy. When he was outside of the range she was choosing to speak to Riley in, the woman hissed at her. "I know for a fact now that you aren't dating him."

"What do you mean? What teenage couple doesn't have sex? It's part of being boyfriend and girlfriend, no? You're just mad that I said the word sex was used in front of the kid,"

"If you really knew Lance, you'll understand why I said what I did."

"If I really knew him? You're talking like he's some religious kid who believes in abstinence until after marriage!" Riley snapped.

"I didn't say that! It only goes to prove, what you just said, that you really don't know Lance. I want you to stay away from that boy, do you understand me," the woman said, her eyes becoming livid.

"Oh, come on, I know Lance is a bad boy! I don't need to be warned about the trouble he could get me…"

"I don't think you understand. That boy _isn't_ the trouble I'm worried about. You are. Do I need to call the police to get you to leave?"

"Fine, I get the picture," Riley said, storming off out of site to her car, even though she wasn't old enough to have a driver's license. She sunk down into the car, sulking.

* * *

Kitty was upstairs in her room with her mother. She was trying to think really hard about what to pack. Her mother reminded her that hey could always send things to her. "It is more stud. I mean, I have no idea how big my room will be at this place, nor how many students there will be."

"That boy… Kitty, he didn't touch you inappropriately at any time?"

"Mom… if he had, I would have been away from him fast. Why are you asking?"

"In case our father brings it up… which is likely that he will."

"He worries way to much!" Kitty commented, shaking her head and letting out a short chuckle. "That boy… he's not a person who touches like our family does."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I was so happy about having used my powers with no snafus, that when I let him in, I hugged him. You and dad don't tense up. He did though, as it he was somewhat uncomfortable with me doing that."

"It was probably because he was using you and had a conscience attack for a few seconds,"

"Maybe… he did seem to understand the whole not having a friend thing," Kitty commented. "That, and not fitting in like me."

"Kitty, some people will be manipulative like that, saying anything," her mother said with worry.

"No, he knew what it was like, not feeling like you belong,"

"Speaking about not belonging and this friend issue… we really should have listened to you about the fact that you said you were being bullied. This school, maybe you'll get a fresh chance,"

"Expesully since they said we have lessons with both there and at school… real public school,"

"That Mr. Logan, he seems gruff, but a nice enough man,"

"I think daddy's afraid of him, I mean… he's used to people in business suits, not guys with cowboy hats," Kitty said, laughing with her mother.

* * *

When Lance got back to the foster home, the first thing he did was storm up the wooden ramp that was on the stairs and slam the door to his room.

"Hi Lance."

This caused Lance to blink a couple of times. "What are you doing in here?"

"I saw a monster at therapy today, but mom says it's my imagination,"

"It could have been… or maybe not," Lance said, listening to the little kid describe the monster, ending that he found it scary and wanted Lance to keep the monster away. Lance told him he couldn't make any promises, but he would do his best, which was enough to make the boy happy and wheel out of the room.

Lance then preceded to toss the few things he had into his duffle bag. Anger was on his face about having gotten into such a mess again. A knock came on the door and his foster mother opened the door safely. "Lance, please tell me you aren't going to run away."

"Lance, that isn't a reason to run away," she said, shaking her head.

"I'm not running away! They're transferring me!" Lance snapped at her.

"They can't… you were getting better at staying out of trouble," his foster mother said, sitting down on the bed. She motioned for him to sit down with her. "Let's talk about this."

"What's there to talk about," Lance said, sitting down as he did, holding out a card.

"This is a home in New York state!" his foster mom said, startled. "How are you going to get there?"

"I'm going to be driving. Apparently I'll be supervised."

"We can try to argue your stay,"

"I'm not worth it," Lance commented, causing her to shake her head and begin to leave.

"Lance… if you _ever_ need help, you know where we live,"

* * *

When Scott and Kitty saw the X-Jet, they were amazed. Kitty was amazed because she had never been able to ride on such an airship before and Scott was surprised that the X-men has such sophisticated technology at their disposal… technology he could play with. Spud was excited because he was going for a ride and wouldn't sit still until Logan buckled him into a seat.

"So what powers do you have?" Kitty asked.

"I don't have any that are X-gene related… but I am really smart," Scott says. "But that tends to get me into trouble!"

"So… there are normal students at the institute too?" Kitty asked.

"If you can call him normal, he'll be the first," Logan stated, a grin on his face, enjoying the whole situation.

""It's part of the whole showing mutants can co-exist," Jean commented dryly, not looking at Scott.

"My name's Kitty Pryde. What's yours?" Kitty asked suddenly.

"My name is…"

But Scott was interrupted by a smirking Logan. "Introductions can wait until we get to the institutes.

"Well, anyways, I'll be glad to get rid of Riley," Kitty said.

"Who's she?" Scott asked.

"She's the girl who always bullied me," Kitty commented. "Are you going to miss your sister?"

"My sister? You mean Scarlett?" Scott said laughing. "She isn't my sister, though she and the rest of the Joe's are like family. She is… one could say, a mutual friend of my father and Mr. Logan, which is why I am probably going to the institute."

"Sorry… you both have red hair," Kitty said, shrugging her shoulders.

Scott was about to say it was alright, except Logan chuckled. "And I bet all redheads are related… did you hear that Jean, you now have a little brother."

Jean just glared out the window, hoping to be home soon.

* * *

Riley had been sulking so bad that when Lance had gone inside the house, she had missed him. To her credit, if Lance had seen her, his foster house would likely have been in rubble just like his school was. Lance went and tossed his pack into the back of his jeep, making her think he was running away, which made her hope that he would take her with him.

It was then though a woman came out of seemingly nowhere. Her astute teacher look made Riley gag with disgust. She could figure out who the woman was or what she wanted to do with Lance. There was also a presence that made her float down into her seat.

"What if I don't want to go to Bayville?" Lance said to the lady.

"Not much you can do about this. The transfer to that group home one might call it, it is final,"

"I could run away you know," Lance said, only to have the woman grab his face and force him to look at him. He was obviously not happy about this.

"Yes, well… have you wondered what my ability is," she whispered into his ear. "You know that monster that little boy saw today. It could appear to the whole family and they end up in the insane asylum. It would be a lot more fun then putting your simpering, already paranoid ex-principle into the asylum. And yes, he is there now. You saw him getting carted away."

"Fine," Lance said. "How come I get that this isn't the fresh start that I've been wanting and that you planned on transferring me."

"Tough kiddo, that's that way life is. Water is wet, rocks are hard… something you should know, and life is not fair. So… live with it," she said, then went and got into the car. "Start driving to New York state kiddo."

As soon as both were gone, Riley was lived. The only thing she could think of was taking it out on Kitty tomorrow at school, not realizing that neither would be there.


	11. Name Game

Scott and Kurt, or more of, Cyclops and Nightcrawler, had a very boring day. The most exciting thing was that a guy on a motorcycle was seen driving around. The man was freakishly large and looked like a cross between a biker, a hippie and a caveman. Neither boy could decide which was the more dominate feature, but he defiantly didn't have a _hippie_ personality, so they decided to stay away from him.

Both wanted to go and meet the X-Jet when it came in, but Ororo had insisted they meet in the den area of the X-Mansion, which didn't make either of the boys very happy. Ororo suggested that they do homework, but both boys gave her nearly the same look.

They were quite pleased when Wolverine, Jean and Professor X came in with Kitty Pryde and Scott Abernathy. However, they were completely shocked when a metal dog came and jumped on each of them. This dog then went to jump on Ororo, but stopped short. It tilted it's head at her, then decided to just get on the couch and curl up beside her.

"So, these are our new mutant and non-mutant members of the X-men?" Ororo said, a sweet smile on her face. "Sit down… including you Logan. I'll start introductions. My name is Ororo, or Storm. That is because I have the ability to control the weather. I enjoy gardening."

"Oh, well… my name is Kitty Pryde. My powers are to pass through things like walls." Kitty said shyly. "I don't really have any hobbies, unless you count dancing in my room by myself… I'm not really that good."

Logan then looked over to the only non-mutant in the room, indicating he should introduce himself next. "My name is Scott Abernathy. I…"

"What!" Jean said, looking at the boy in shock. Logan suddenly burst out laughing. "Seriously, if that is the reason you had him wait to tell his name, it _isn't_ funny!"

Kitty and Scott couldn't figure out what was so funny, expesully because after Logan began to laugh, so did the boy with red sunglasses and Kurt. Xavier and Storm just smiled. Cyclops held out his hand, still laughing. "The reason it is so funny is… my name's Scott Summers. You could say Logan has a strange sense of humor."

"It's all right," Scot stated. "I mean…. You want a strange sense of humor, you should see my father's contingent." Both he and Kitty were laughing too.

Jean was not laughing however and folded her arms and stuck out her lip a bit in irritation. "Some sort of strange humor… I still don't think it is funny."

"Stop being a stick in the mud," Kurt said, reaching out his hand to Scott Abernathy. "My name vis Kurt Vagner."

"Uhh… fur?" Scott said a little surprised to feel fur he couldn't see.

This caused Kurt to sigh and tap a button on his watch, reveling his real self. "Vell, I have to show you some time."

Kitty suddenly let out a shriek and stumbled backwards, phasing through the coffee table. However, Scott wasn't phased by Kurt's appearance. "Cool! The hologram explains why some of your fingers looked like they were stuck together!"

"It visn't a big deal?" Kurt asked, glancing more at Kitty then at Scott.

"I've met ninjas, so no big deal," Scott commented.

"Vow! Ninjas! That vis so cool!" Kurt commented, his composure changing.

"Ninja's aren't real," Kitty commented.

"Actually," Ororo stated. "Mr. Logan is a ninja… he trained over in Japan."

"Something I don't want to talk about… certain people, particularly Scarlett would skin me alive," Logan said, shaking his head and laughing still.

"Who's Scarlett? I can't imagine someone who would have the guts to kick Wolverine's butt," Cyclops commented.

"Isn't she that woman that was with…" Jean paused for a second. "Alright… how are you going to tell them apart."

"Simple…" Scott laughed. "We look nothing alike! Plus, Summers, Abernathy… big Scott, little Scott. Simple as that Jean."

"But…" Jean said.

"If she's Storm, what are the nicknames for the other people on the team?" Kitty asked.

"Oh, you mean the codenames… the professor and I don't have any, but you found out Logan's. Our Scott is Cyclops and Kurt is Nightcrawler."

"Cool!" Kitty said, putting one of her feet up behind her bottom in excitement and clenching her hands to her chest. "When do I get one!"

"Half-pint, the codenames have to be thought out so that they fit you,"

"How about Sprite," Jean commented.

Cyclops laughed. "Uhh… this is coming from the one who wanted to call herself Marvel Girl? She's small, but she looks tough."

"Yeah!" Kitty said, striking her energetic pose again, though this time she had a fist in the air. "Hold on… I think."

"Ve could call the new Scott Mainframe… he seems to like computers," Kurt commented.

"Well… Mainframe is already taken in my contingent," Scott commented.

"Hey, speaking of computers, I'm sure they would love to see the danger room and Cyrebro," Logan commented.

"Danger Room," Kitty commented, a little pale.

"Nobody gets vurt unless von teleports into it,' Kurt commented, groaning.

"Cool… I think," Kitty said, striking her fist in the air pose again. "This is like, the coolest place ever!"

"Why don't you give them a tour of the mansion before dinner," Ororo stated. "The two Scotts can go with each other and Kitty can go with Kurt."

The four took off, Kitty making a slight face at Kurt.


End file.
